Kansas Football 2022 Season

[UnholyLivingDead]

I can't for the life of me figure out why we can't ever get good kickers. There must be plenty of guys walking around KU's campus on a daily basis that played high school soccer in the KC area. Just go round them up and find someone that can do it. It really shouldn't be as hard as we've made it. Glad to see the coaches getting aggressive there.

And the guys that are leaving via the portal aren't going to other Power 5 schools. It really is a purge of lesser/lower end of the roster talent for the most part.

Interesting to note that Colorado announced the signing of a QB already this morning so who knows what's happening with Weisman.

[pdub]

We still, unfortunately, rank dead last in B12 recruiting rankings, and only 1 of 2 B12 programs not in the top 50.

[NewtonHawk11]

It's nice to get a QB per class, but I think this staff is going to work hard on Vasko and have him ready to roll in 2024.

Yes pdub, the recruiting rankings are not incredibly high. But this staff has shown they are more developers than recruiters. Quentin Skinner became a good WR and he is a walk-on, Jared Casey has proven to be a solid TE, Jalon Daniels hitting a whole new level too and more.

They work well with what they have, even if what they have is not top-tier talent.

[CrimsonNBlue]

It's nice to get a QB per class, but I think this staff is going to work hard on Vasko and have him ready to roll in 2024.

Yes pdub, the recruiting rankings are not incredibly high. But this staff has shown they are more developers than recruiters. Quentin Skinner became a good WR and he is a walk-on, Jared Casey has proven to be a solid TE, Jalon Daniels hitting a whole new level too and more.

They work well with what they have, even if what they have is not top-tier talent.

Yes, how's the variety?

Every day of the week, I'll take a lower ranked (which is always so subjective anyways in football) class over a Gill and Beaty type class where we were ranked higher but nearly all of them were skill positions. That's a big part of how we got to the 2020 point.

[NewtonHawk11]

And that's where this staff nails it. Lots of developmental types at DL and OL. Then the skill guys can sprinkle in.

I think this staff knows they are at the top of the CFB in Xs and Os, but they need the Jimmies and Joes up front and those positions are hard to recruit for.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Bingo. That's the whole thing with this staff. There were zero questions on if they can coach football. Development will tell the story.

Not a big Bowen fan, but he did nail it during the Leipold search when he called out Chris Harris, Aqib Talib, et al. when they said that KU needed a top-notch recruiter. Pointed out that nearly all of the great Mangino players, those two included, were mostly 2 stars that were overlooked and developed by Mangino's great staff. You could go on forever but Harris, Talib, Collins, Reesing, Briscoe, et al. all had few P5 offers.

[NewtonHawk11]

Get you some decent recruiting assistants and whatnot, but let your development do the talking. The "worst" recruit coming to Lawrence is a 3 star. In the past there were 2-star guys that got to campus. And that wasn't sustainable with the previous coaches here.

How have the recent 4 stars worked at KU?
Marquel Combs - BUST
Jocques Crawford - Fine but nothing special
Pooka Williams - Baller. Absolutely worth the rating. Probably underrated in recruiting rankings.
Corione Harris - Not that great.
Steven Parker - Barely made the field before transferring to FCS Incarnate Word.
Prinz Kande - BUST

Some of KUs best players recently..
Todd Reesing - 2 star
Aqib Talib - 2 star
Chris Harris - Low ranked
Jalon Daniels - Low 3 star
Devin Neal - High 3 star

KU should go for those diamonds in a rough 9.9 times out of 10.

[hartjack8]

Not to mention 2 kickers as well. One who will be a senior, maybe a Super Senior and then a kid from KC that just finished first year at Nebraska but transferred to KU.

Staff seeing weaknesses and attacking those. Kicking game was trash. DL is losing a ton of guys after this year.

This staff is doing a good job mixing HS kids with transfer players. Out of the typical 25-player classes, expect 15 or so HS kids in each class and the rest filled with transfer guys. And the portal guys they are bringing in have at least 3 years of eligibility remaining. Which is huge. Better than 1-year grad transfers.

Another quick note and then I'm done. They are not losing many guys to the portal at all. Think they are losing 6 guys in this first wave of portal stuff. I'm sure a couple more will come during spring ball but overall, really solid job by this staff of recruiting the players on the roster, which is absurd to say.

Yea that kicker from Nebraska he getting out of town quickly because they got new HS kicker who is badass. Kicked three fifty yarders in HS championship game one game winner.

The rules are now 85 players. Get them anyway you want.

That OT transfer I believe is the highest rated HS player we have ever had at KU.

[Sparko]

Prinz Kande was one of my favorite names though.

[Sparko]

Kansas needs to hire AF's defensive coordinator

[AlOerter]

I have a question about KU's defense. What is the main issue?
a. Schemes?
b. Talent level?
c. Play calling?
d. Mental mistakes?

[CrimsonNBlue]

Mostly b., especially when compared to the Big 12, but depth is part of that issue.

Borland just got a sizable raise, and rightfully so.

[Sparko]

Watching Air Force move laterally and destroy the Baylor run game, I think schemes might be the issue. A service academy can't rely on talent. They were in the right place form tackling all night long.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Bowl games are weird. The service academies have built in depth and they all play. Borland didn't forget how to coach football. I'm more of the opinion he kept us from finishing behind the likes of Arkansas and Colorado in total defense. Some dominant performances like ISU and OSU were sprinkled in when the talent gap wasn't present. NCAAF snowballs.

[Sparko]

I agree on the bowl game weirdness. But AF played the edges so well. Better than KU has since 08. Their linebackers and safeties were so disciplined playing contain. That is a 10-win team that stomped Baylor. I hope Borland watched it. I think it will be key to beating Arkansas' running attack.

[hartjack8]

I have a question about KU's defense. What is the main issue?
a. Schemes?
b. Talent level?
c. Play calling?
d. Mental mistakes?

Well A is the biggest issue.


Those that say otherwise they are wrong.

[UnholyLivingDead]

I have a question about KU's defense. What is the main issue?
a. Schemes?
b. Talent level?
c. Play calling?
d. Mental mistakes?

Well A is the biggest issue.


Those that say otherwise they are wrong.

Bold and definitive answer I suppose. But is it at least possible A and B are closely linked?

[AlOerter]

When talent level is down you can't necessarily scheme your way around it. That leaves almost no margin for error. Being assignment sound and making proper reads is essential. If you don't develop those things the defense will only improve marginally with added talent.

If you have sound fundamentals and discipline and then add talent...well that's what we all want to see. Having said all that, I want to see a much improved defense in 2023 or a major staff change for 2024 if I don't.

[hartjack8]

Bowl games are weird. The service academies have built in depth and they all play. Borland didn't forget how to coach football. I'm more of the opinion he kept us from finishing behind the likes of Arkansas and Colorado in total defense. Some dominant performances like ISU and OSU were sprinkled in when the talent gap wasn't present. NCAAF snowballs.

You are right we had a better defense than Colorado. They had the #1 worst defense in all of football.

Everything else you said were tainted by those SUNSHINE BOY glasses you wear. ARKY's defense was much better than ours and they were racked much harder with injuries. Their DC was promoted to HC of UNLV. ISU offense was terriable and OSU offense was not the same without their QB, it really was not the performance of the defense.

[hartjack8]

Kansas needs to hire AF's defensive coordinator

Sparko you are seeing things clearly. The DC is in his first year. AF has a good defense and they have for awhile. Their DC last year went to Virginia which had a messed up year but the defense was lights out better than the previous year. AF defense did not drop at all because they promoted from within and ran the same scheme they had been.