Jayhawks crush Lindenwood in 2024 season opener

you think of playing here the atmosphere and the playe surface the turf I mean it felt great I feel like the fans came out tonight showed up um you know I was just glad to be able to go out there with the guys and be able to put on the show for the fans I didn't really expect as many people to come out like they did and they did so I was pretty surprised to see that jayen how it feel to be out there again after a long time and what you think yeah I mean you know it felt great to be back out there uh you know be able to be out there making plays with the guys all over again being able to watch Playmakers make plays in space I mean we got a lot of guys out on the field today and it was great to be able to see those guys go out and play football no what was the the pick six like for you and did you have a feeling of while I'm doing this again uh on the beginning of that play the quarterback like was just staring down his receiver and gave him like a little sign to run whatever route he ran I guess it was the out route um and I was looking at the quarterback like for his drop steps or whatever and I seen him giving him that sign I knew the ball was coming my way Jaylen uh if you could just kind of go back to the the interception early in the game and what kind of went wrong sound like you and Luke might have just read the defense a little bit differently yeah no luk Grim read the read the defense perfectly right um you know that play was on me I feel like the DB did a great job of being able to you know make the coverage look like it was something different and you know I just have to give props to the DB for being able to make a play on that and that's on me yeah that's that's one of those throws I one back and how did you adjust to that on the flight seem like it didn't really phase you much and come back and obviously you and Luke were on the same page most of the night absolutely I mean you know I feel like you know especially when when coach Z and Coach Lio first got here coach Z put a big emphasis on being able to focus refocus and um you know shout out to coz because without him I wouldn't be able to have that aspect to my game which is basically you know for getting the last play make sure that the next throw is the best throw back here you know with missing some time last year actually getting out in the game taking a coup just get bumped around is that a good feeling for you to get back out there and kind of feel that again absolutely I mean you know this is a game that I've played my whole entire life um you know I've been known as being able to be the the running quarterback for most of my life and I feel like you know college football now is kind of you know settled me into being more of a passer than a runner um so you know it was definitely felt great to be able to go back out there and you know take a hit or two but you know at the end of the day I'm trying to stay clean hey Jaylen um coach said that he had a conversation with you that was basically along the lines of you can't make up for nine games in one night um can you just kind of tell us what that conversation was and just I'm sure you were it to play oh absolutely I mean it was a quick conversation um you know Co coach Lio knows that I'm I'm I'm one of those guys who you know I'm ready to go out there and make plays as many plays as possible so you know he knows that I was eager to be able to get back on the field so he was just letting me know that you know just take every play play by play you know don't don't try to put up 21 points in one play so uh you know it was it was definitely a very brief conversation but it definitely hit home J when was that conversation last night a lot of new guys up front in that in that front front seven of the defense how does that change way you guys have have kind of looked at things and how how great is it for you guys to work with all the guys um it didn't change anything really um I feel like the new guys stepped up a lot tonight jayen obviously Cole's kind of your backup this year how muchow you seen from yeah I mean I that kid is one of those quarterbacks that's always determined to be able to get better you know I feel like his determination is what makes him the the guy and the quarterback that he is today I mean you know if he makes he's definitely one of those guys who's you know going to bounce back from it no matter what and I feel like he's just somebody who's eager to learn no matter what the sit situation or scenario is what's the biggest differ I feel like just being more calm I feel like he just he knows that he has a grip of the offense he knows the offense way better than he did last year um so you know when you know the offense you're not really just worried about you know where your receivers are supposed to be because you know where they're supposed to be and it just gives you more time to be able to focus on what the defense is doing and be able to react from there Jaylen coach says he's seem a lot more joy throughout Camp you feel that tonight absolutely I mean you know I feel like you know being taken away from the game last year is something that you know allowed me to be able to you know not take any rep for granted because you never know when your last play will be so I'm just taking every every single play every single day you know and making sure that I don't take it for granted uh 20,000 seat stadium so maybe not as many fans as you guys have played in front of but but it was pretty loud the student section was uh was really close to one end zone just how loud was it for you guys and then how did the fans kind of impact the game absolutely I mean you know like I said earlier the fans came out today you know they came out and be able you know they made some noise they made in a very exciting environment to be able to play in you know I'm just proud that we were able to go out there and make some plays for him um I was surprised about the amount of students that came out tonight but they played a a tremendous role in what happened tonight and I and I want to thank them for making their way all the way out here one more one more Jaylen sorry uh I kind of forgot before the game I saw you up in the like come down to warm up from the field what were you doing up there and is it just kind of like a I guess just what were you doing yeah my mom was up there uh my mom is not able to walk right now she's on crutches so she was she had to sit at the top row and she wasn't able to make her way down the steps so I was going to go up there and go talk to my mom regardless because I love her so um I got the chance to be able to go give her a hug talk to her before the game and you know had her pregame conversations as we usually do and D up my my family D up all my people that came out tonight than thank you thank you