2020 offseason thread

[NewtonHawk11]

Have also heard that Franks to KU is all but official. Great chance he is the QB for KU next year.

[NewtonHawk11]

KU has hired Ben Iannacchione (on-uh-KEY-own-E) as S&C Coach for Football. Been head S&C coach at Wyoming for last couple of years. Before that was at LSU as assistant S&C Coach for a few years and Youngstown State head S&C Coach before that.

Younger guy (mid 30's) former player at Boise State. From all accounts, a rising guy in the profession. Familiar with Les from days at LSU.

[holidaysmore]

Key here: background with Les. Seems like a good hire. Proof will be in the results.

[NewtonHawk11]

Big thing as well. Leonard Fournette went to Wyoming after 2018 season to train with him because he felt like he was the guy to get him back to where he wanted to be.

[NewtonHawk11]

kusports.com did an All-Decade Team for Defense and this was the selections with my thoughts.

DE- Armstrong: The most dominating force KU has had on defense since Talib.
DT- Daniel Wise: Most dominate DT since James McClinton. Always in the opposing backfield.
DE - Jake Laptad: This one is a stretch. His last year was 2010. But he was such a solid player all 4 years.
LB - Joe Dineen: The heart and soul of the defense for multiple years. Converted RB. The Mayor.
LB - Ben Henney: A top Big 12 LB for 3 seasons. Fast, physical, mean everytime he got to the ball.
LB - Steven Johnson: An underrated player. So good. Undrafted but played 6 NFL seasons.
CB- JaCorey Sheperd: Started as WR/KR but ended as a top CB by Senior Year. Fun player.
CB- Chris Harris Jr: Ended career in 2010. A top 5 NFL CB of the decade. Always in right position.
S - Fish Smithson: JUCO guy and became an instant leader. FT All Conference player.
S - Bradley McDougald - Started as WR. But made his mark on defense. Doing well for Seattle now.
S - Mike Lee: Jump started the LA-KU trend. Came to KU early. Hardest hitter I've seen in a long time.
P - Trevor Pardula - Forgot about this guy. Huge leg. Punted a ton. FT All Conference.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Man, Mike Lee really deserved better. Should have went somewhere else.

[NewtonHawk11]

This may be a hot take and in the minority. He is the hardest hitter I've seen, but his ball skills/coverage skills were sub par for a safety. He hit like hell, and that will always be something he should be remembered for, but he only had 5 picks in his 4 years and 33 games here. On top of only defended 6 passes. A free safety in a pass happy conference like the Big 12 should have more.

Again, like the guy. And he opened the door for the Louisianamals to come to Lawrence, but he also could have been a lot better in passing defense.

[holidaysmore]

Interesting how a good group of those guys were recruited by Beaty and then went on to have or had careers in the NFL.
The last decade of KU football has been so awful.

Yeah Mike was a down hill banger. Pass coverage not so much, lol.

[CrimsonNBlue]

This may be a hot take and in the minority. He is the hardest hitter I've seen, but his ball skills/coverage skills were sub par for a safety. He hit like hell, and that will always be something he should be remembered for, but he only had 5 picks in his 4 years and 33 games here. On top of only defended 6 passes. A free safety in a pass happy conference like the Big 12 should have more.

Again, like the guy. And he opened the door for the Louisianamals to come to Lawrence, but he also could have been a lot better in passing defense.

I don't think we were equipped to give him the proper instruction. He regressed.

[vmlb]

That list explains why we sucked that decade.

[holidaysmore]

That list explains why we sucked that decade.

Or the coaching staffs sucked because out of that list I see active NFL guys, starters, un-drafted guys who stuck around for multiple years and an all pro.

[NewtonHawk11]

Yeah. The coaching was just awful. They recruited well and did develop some guys (Dineen, Henney and others were not highly recruited) but there are some good NFL players on that list, and yet the record still stunk.

[PhDhawk]

Yeah. The coaching was just awful. They recruited well and did develop some guys (Dineen, Henney and others were not highly recruited) but there are some good NFL players on that list, and yet the record still stunk.

I wouldn't say they recruited well.

Gill only seemed to recruit about 5 positions and ignored the rest
FrontButt's biggest recruits were Transfer QBs and JuCos (some who never made it to campus)
And Baty had 2-3 good guys per class, but couldn't get enough guys on the back end to even fill out a class yet gave away all our schollies.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Yeah. The coaching was just awful. They recruited well and did develop some guys (Dineen, Henney and others were not highly recruited) but there are some good NFL players on that list, and yet the record still stunk.

No linemen.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Yeah. The coaching was just awful. They recruited well and did develop some guys (Dineen, Henney and others were not highly recruited) but there are some good NFL players on that list, and yet the record still stunk.

I wouldn't say they recruited well.

Gill only seemed to recruit about 5 positions and ignored the rest
FrontButt's biggest recruits were Transfer QBs and JuCos (some who never made it to campus)
And Baty had 2-3 good guys per class, but couldn't get enough guys on the back end to even fill out a class yet gave away all our schollies.

The rankings were on par with what you'd expect from a middle Big 12 team, but the classes had little substance as it was so many talent positions often from Jucos.

Recruiting is the 2nd biggest reason we're in the mess right now. Biggest is the boobs in charge of the program.

[NewtonHawk11]

True on all accounts by CNB and PhD. Linemen and QB is the biggest reason for the decade of shit. But some of the coaches did a good job finding diamonds in the rough.

One thing I've noticed about Miles is that he'll get at least one true QB per class and will go get high school linemen and develop them.

[surly]

Taters just got 4* quarterback recruit. Why Mancrappin' when he could have gone to LSU, Michigan, Penn State? Geezzz.

[NewtonHawk11]

Also, on a side note Feleipe Franks said he was going to either do draft or transfer. He made it seem like transferring will be his only option. And all signs point to KU being his choice. He is hoping to announce soon and be on campus by February.

So KU will likely have a 2020 QB who in his last full season at Florida threw for 2,500 yards, 60% completion percentage and 24/6 TD to INT ratio.

Was 77% passer with 5/3 TD to INT ratio before breaking his foot.

Seems like a good leader because teammates enjoyed having him in Miami with them for the Orange Bowl. He was a part of the team even though he is leaving. But because the team enjoyed having him there, I think it shows he was a leader of that team and could be someone that Miles and Dearmon rely on heavily here.

[holidaysmore]

I'm sure if you asked Florida fans Franks was less than desired by them but for KU's standards he would be the best QB on the roster.

I saw the Taters got a **** kid. I'm going to need to see him sign and report before I put that in the bank. High profile schools can get a kid anytime they want.

[Leawood]

But, Manhattan has its own airport.