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KU football previews 2024 during Spring Showcase

KU football previews 2024 during Spring Showcase

Chance Parker/Special to the Journal-World

The Kansas offense meets at the spring show at Rock Chalk Park on Friday, April 12, 2024.

The Kansas football team introduced fans to the 2024 squad Friday evening during its annual Spring Showcase, treating a crowd of loyal fans to a cycle of practice drills followed by about an hour of scrimmage action.

The event was held at KU's football complex at Rock Chalk Park, on one of the four fields the Jayhawks have practiced on this spring, while David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is under construction (to say the least).

“I thought it was neat,” head coach Lance Leipold said. “Beautiful environment, great audience, band did a great job, nice intimate setting, something different. Really, for this kind of event at this time of year, I loved it. Something I wish we had thought of sooner for games on grass and things like that.”

While the move, by design, represented only a very loose approximation of what the Jayhawks will look like in the fall – and in fact the looming spring transfer window could reshape them even further – it still provided some highlights and relevant personnel information. public.

Daniels finally takes the field

KU starting quarterback Jalon Daniels played in a public setting — albeit an informal one — for the first time since his back injury sidelined him for the final 10 games of the 2023 season.

After passing the ball around with backup quarterback Ben Easters and taking a few seven-on-seven snaps alongside fellow first-teamers Devin Neal, Trevor Kardell, Luke Grimm, Quentin Skinner and Trevor Wilson (Lawrence Arnold was on the sideline with his leg in a cast), Daniels opened the first 11-on-11 drive with KU's first-team offense.

“Great to see him back in action, get him on the team more and get all the action back,” wide receiver Skinner said. “It's good to have six in the mix again.”

On that first series, in one of the highlights of the evening, Daniels uncorked a deep ball to Skinner in the right sideline for the kind of impressive diving catch that Skinner often makes as a routine.

“He had some reps yesterday, a few more today,” Leipold said. “He's been throwing all spring, and when he comes out in front of people, I think, I think a lot of people are a little less inclined to speculate about things. He throws, throws it deep, throws it all over.”

Daniels was replaced later in the series by Cole Ballard, who finished with a short field goal by Charlie Weinrich.

“In practice, I've seen his attention span go to even sharper things,” Skinner said of Daniels. “He may not be able to make shots, but he's guaranteed to be right behind Coach (Jim Zebrowski) or Coach (Jeff) Grimes, behind someone, still reading, still helping the young quarterbacks, doing everything he can in his possible power to where he becomes fully healthy again and becomes fully active again.

New faces will have representatives from the first team

While it may be difficult to put too much stock in the Spring Showcase personnel groupings, the offensive line combinations were worth noting given the ongoing battle at center between veteran Michael Ford Jr. (usually a guard) and Tiffin transfer Shane Bumgardner.

Ford snapped the ball to first-team quarterbacks Daniels and Ballard early on, though perhaps most notable was the selection of longtime backup Nolan Gorczyca over Iowa State transfer Darrell Simmons Jr. as the first guard to play next to him.

Gorczyca also played some tackle later, with Simmons joining him in the lineup.

“I think we've already found some answers based on the quarters we've had and finding the moveable pieces,” Leipold said.

Safety Jalen Dye, who only got a sparing opportunity to play last season, saw action early and often in the defensive backfield, even when Marvin Grant, as promised, worked in the hybrid Hawk or “Cinco” role against the three -opposing wide receiver. packages. (Dye also spent some time at Cinco himself.)

Dye made one of the best defensive plays of the event when he wrestled the ball away from walk-on wideout Hunter Luke on a rush route from Isaiah Marshall and took the ball the other way for a touchdown.

“I was at the sticks, he broke out six yards, came, made the tackle – well, (I) was about to tackle him, the ball was there, so I took it away from him and started running” , Dye said. .

Alex Raich, a redshirt senior and former JUCO transfer from Switzerland, also saw some early snaps at Hawk.

Weinrich made field goals for the first-team offense, though he and fellow kickers Tabor Allen and Owen Piepergerdes were nearly perfect that night. It should be noted that starting punter Damon Greaves held for Weinrich, while backup punter Grayden Addison was the primary holder last year.

Leipold said the kicking game has become “a little more consistent” in recent days.

“Charlie has done very well here, and it's pretty close in terms of percentages,” Leipold said. “Tabor Allen has been more consistent than ever in the goal area, and then Owen has the strongest leg of the group. He has found his rhythm a little better here in the last few training sessions.”

Veterans see minimal action

As promised, Leipold, who has often wondered what benefit a hardcore spring scrimmage experience could provide for some of his veteran players, didn't give them many reps Friday night.

Daniels was just one of a handful of KU veterans who saw little to no time on the field, including running backs Neal and Daniel Hishaw Jr., cornerbacks Cobee Bryant and Mello Dotson and safeguards OJ Burroughs and Marvin Grant.

By the time the Jayhawks reached the final minutes of the scrimmage, both sides were playing walk-on and freshman-heavy lineups.

“I think we've accomplished a lot,” Leipold said. “I had the chance to see some young players playing under the lights in this kind of environment. Again, a great learning environment for another practice slash scrimmage.