Kansas Jayhawks Football Game Week: What We Can/Can't Learn From Lindenwood Game + 3 Most Underrated

on today's lock on Jayhawks it is officially game week we talk about the things that do and don't matter from playing a overmatched FCS opponent and the three most underrated KU football players for 2024 you are locked on Jayhawks your daily podcast on the Kansas j-hawks part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I'm Dereck Johnson you can find me on Twitter at D Johnson radio and thanks for following along with the show all offseason long we are almost here just a few days away from the first game of the season so we're going to be talking about the KU Lindenwood game and things that you can and can't take away from a game where you're playing an FCS opponent where you are over a 40o favorite because there are certain things that oh look that looked great you know but it's like well maybe part of that's just the competition so we're gonna get into some of that stuff we're also going to get into our three most underrated Jayhawks for 2024 thank you to the every day tuning in each and every show thank you for making lock on Jayhawks your first listen every day you can find us anywhere you get your podcast including on our YouTube page where you can like And subscribe to the show before we get into K football game week the things that do and don't matter for this first week against lyndenwood this episode's brought to you by ultimate college football head coach it's a brand new mobile game that's completely free it has no ads and is 100% playable Offline that checks three big boxes for me when I'm playing an app on my phone use the promo code locked on CFB all caps in inside the game store to receive a free boost to your program begin your coaching Legacy today all right let's start right here we're going to start with the things that do matter that things that you can take away from this game because like I said if you go out there and Jaylen Daniels you know throws for six touchdowns against lyndenwood are we gonna sit there and go wow Jaylen Daniels is the greatest quarterback of all time I mean maybe in a fun way but like is that going to all the sudden win him the Heisman for what he did against Lynden like no it's not like you're expected to win by a lot so in a certain sense there's almost more you can learn if they struggle than if they do well which is a bit of an unfair place to be if you are you know a Kansas or a team like this but you kind of play these FCS games to work on some of this stuff and kind of ease your way into the season so that kind of comes with all this stuff so like yeah if you only beat lynen wood by three points that's going to be some negative takeaways versus if you do win by 45 it's like well that was expected let's see what they can do in week two against a much better opponent in Illinois but the things that you can learn in this game I mean number one is kind of just not losing like you know we we feel distanced enough from um the David bat era I guess but like it's and in the previous areas before that right Turner Gil and Charlie Weiss and so on but it's still not that long ago that we were talking about Kansas going into a season playing an FCS team and it was like can you just not lose to the FCS team and now it's it's almost a a given part of that is this FCS opponent I I think that's part of it too like Lance pulled probably a little bit more strategic with the FCS opponents he's playing I remember the first year he came in he was like yeah don't schedule Missouri Valley Conference foes which they kind of did like they had like a good South Dakota team their first year and it was a close game that they needed a uh Jason Bean late touchdown drive and and like a fourth down conversion to win the game um so that's part of it right like Colorado's playing North Dakota State on Thursday night Oklahoma State's playing South Dakota state who's like the back-to-back Champion like don't do that right um so part of it is that that you're playing not one of those teams but the other part of it is just the idea that it feels like Kansas is in a better place and um so it's not thought of as much but like that still is a thing because that can easily just kind of wreck your momentum in a season in the early going so you know Ju Just just win the game don't lose to an FCS opponent I know that sounds simple but other things that you can learn or take away um I I do think like even though there's going to be a certain line here like if Kansas shuts out lyndenwood is it going to be all about okay the KU defense is totally fixed is it going to feel good is it going to feel like okay this is the first step to showing that maybe they could be a really good defense this year like yes those will be real conversations but if you shut out lyndenwood it's not like I said going to be okay see we're the best defense in the country now right like that's not going to happen so um there is a line there but I do think there is a level of not giving up a ton of points like that's something you can take away from this one because if you give up 30 points in this game you win this game 55 to 31 where it's like yeah you still won by over 20 points you won this game going away there's going to be some questions though about the defense if you give up say 31 points like I I almost think even though these two scores would be identical in terms of how much you won by 38 to 14 that would be a a more important win I guess you could say than 55 to 31 because I don't really have questions about the offense my questions about the offense are just can people stay healthy you know like my questions about the defense are and and I am high on what uh some of these position that lost players like defensive tackle and linebacker can be this year I love the secondary for KU like I do think they're going to take a step forward as a defense but if you give up 31 points to to lyndenwood on Thursday I might be like uh oh like what's going on here in this first game of the season uh does anybody have pass rush juice so this is something where yes on one end you should just be able to overpower the lyndenwood offensive line and theoretically this will be the weakest offensive line you play against this season and so if you dominate against lynen Wood's offensive line there's no guarantee that you're going to dominate against any other opponent on the schedule but to that notion if it's the easiest one to go against now that said they things working against that first game of the season shaking the rust off still getting to know the scheme still getting into the momentum of the season but if you can't do it now how do I expect you to do it all of a sudden at Kansas State later this season right and again for the young players maybe that's a little different right if you're Deshawn Warner Dak Brinkley by job you haven't played a ton of football um at the colleg level like it's going to take some time so like yeah those guys of course will be better later in the season than early in the season but here's the other reason I bring this up you know even though it didn't necessar like Lonnie Phelps in the FCS game against an overmatch Tennessee Tech offensive line he had three sacks he had four tackles for loss now did he ever have another three- sack game no but it was clear like he was a dude on the defensive line in that first game and that carried over through the rest of the season because he was a really good defensive end for KU you look to last year with Austin Booker I can't remember if he had any sacks or tfls I I could have sworn he did have a sack but I definitely remember there were a few plays where he at least had like hurries and quarterback hits where you saw him have a great jump off the line of scrimmage and you were like oh that looks a little different like he's got a little twitch he's got a little athleticism coming off the edge and you could tell right away and so even if like the competition you're going against it's all going to get better from there if you think about it this way okay well which KU defensive players played best even in this game that can kind of signify which KU players are going to play best against better competition you might not play as well against the better competition but you're still going to be set up to play among the best of your peers right so seeing some sort of pass rush juice not everything will be translatable some stuff will but like there are certain physical traits like I said with the twitch with Austin Booker with with some of the stuff Lonnie Phelps was doing that you want to see some Flash plays from some of the pass rushers in this game because I do think you'll be able to take that away uh staying healthy that's kind of an obvious one like anytime you're play in an FC like just stay healthy all the starters all the guys in the two deep and the earlier you can amass that lead and amass a big advantage in this game the earlier you can go to the backups the earlier you can go to the third strings ideally by the time you get to maybe the fourth quarter something like that and trying to keep guys healthy for the long season ahead um young players in backups getting some action I do think that is something you can take away because we're not always going to see the third stringers coming into games right now like defensive tackle you're going to rotate around like defensive end you're going to rotate around there are certain positions that you're going to get into the depth a little bit more than others and obviously there will be injuries throughout the season at certain positions where you will see some of the depth but ideally you don't want to see the third and fourth strings play over the course of the Season nothing against those guys you want them to develop and be good players but that typically means if it happened either something's failing at the top or somebody got injured so this is an opportunity for those guys to get game reps and for you to feel like hey like I want to see what Johnny Thompson I want to see what Harry Stewart can do out there like I want to see uh Isaiah Marshall play or or Cole Ballard see the Improvement that he possibly has like you want to see some of these guys that um you may hear about in practice or you may hear about from media members or you may hear about from people that you talk to or something who are inside the program that are like oh yeah they're doing really well in practice or they're progressing in this this or that way but you want to see it on the field yourself because you might not see them like for a full season in game Reps for a year or two right and so it's cool to have that opportunity to see them in this game and and so that's something you can take away and then the last thing here is um you just don't want to see the like offensive line getting worked I guess like the one exception I'll have if the offensive line gives up a sack or two in the game on like a weird Blitz on like something that the defense has diagnosed that's a super creative structure or scheme and it leads to like an unblocked man on a blitz like no that is not ideal but that's something where it's like okay it's so early in the season um you're you're working in a new center right that could just be a growing pain that could just be a learning thing now it's tough because week two you're at Illinois so they'll see that on tape and be like oh let's try to take advantage of this that wouldn't be great but you'd at least have it on tape to kind of teach everybody and have that uh oh moment as long as it doesn't happen a bunch right if it happens like one time that's fine but um that do matter like the offensive line should be able to to punish the defensive line in this game so if the offensive line is struggling to make a push if the offensive line is is struggling in normal pass Rush that can be a problem in this game because again the defensive lines are only going to get better from here all right what are some things that don't matter that we won't be able to take away from the result from this game we'll talk about those on lock on Jayhawks our episode today is brought to you by ultimate college football head coach hey locked on jhawk fans let's take a moment get a new heads up on that brand new mobile game that I think you're going to love as much as I do ultimate college football head coach it's an amazing game in simulation where you can step into the shoes of a head coach and lead your college football program to Glory can you imagine being the national champion coach at Kansas from recruiting players and hiring coaching staff to overseeing training camps and handling school scholarships you control every crucial detail of your program it's all in your hands are you going to be able to handle the pressure and here's what is awesome about the game you're responsible for calling offensive plays during the games and your strategy is not only 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Lindenwood show uh we'll work on that moving forward but um you know you want to start getting an early Scout on like what Illinois is up to you can check out you know that show and maybe the West Virginia show whatever you want to do so uh things that don't matter as I was was kind of talking about there with the offensive line like if the offensive line struggles that is something you can take away and that's a bad thing you can take away but it is something you can take away I don't know that you can take away the offensive line dominating um you take it away in the same bucket as like okay it didn't teach us anything which is a good thing right you don't want bad things to pop up in the lyndenwood game so from that perspective it is good but as I've kind of said with some of the stuff if the KU offens line dominates and they're just able to run halfback dive every play or halfback stretch or the wide zone or whatever like every play that's a good thing but that's not going to be super translatable to each and every game so it's something you should be able to do in this game but it's not something where if they do it I'm gonna all of a sudden be like yep if Kansas played Alabama they're just going to dominate him in the trenches right uh okay if you win by 24 versus if you win by 60 or I I don't know I don't know the exact points but like somewhere in that range like there there's a range of points if you win by 30 versus 50 I don't know somewhere in that maybe not 24 maybe that's a little bit low there is a certain range where I think it no longer becomes like I don't know how good is Kansas and a little bit of it becomes how bad is lyndenwood like remember the Rhode Island Game you know um this team might be similar to that Rhode Island team in terms of where they rank maybe they're a little bit better in some of the stuff but Kansas is in a much better place as a program than they were then and is a much better team so like if Kansas wins 38 to7 versus if they win 52 to4 is it going to be that big a difference no I don't really think so like what was the score of the Ku Missouri State game last year I certainly don't remember I remember it was kind of close in the first quarter they might have even been winning at the end of the first quarter and then Kansas kind of pulled away and did their thing right now Missouri State better FCS team here and there is a line like I said like if you only win by 10 that's probably not a good thing but if you win by 40 versus winning by 60 like I don't know that that's that huge of a difference that you can take away from this game uh whatever the stat line is for Jaylen Daniels I don't really think that's something you can take away from this game we already know Jaylen Daniel is a really talented quarterback a really good quarterback the bigger thing for Jaylen that you can take away is just does he stay healthy like that is something you can take away does he stay healthy does he get through the game something you can't really take away he could go 12 for 12 for 200 yards and four touchdowns and that's awesome and would certainly signify how good he could be but we already know how good he could be he's a Heisman candidate at quarterback when he stays healthy he is one of the most talented quarterbacks we've seen run through Lawrence like we already know those things that ain't going to change with how he does in the uh game and and I guess you could even that the opposite way right like if Jaylen Daniels goes out there and he has uh I don't know 11 of 18 performance for 120 yards with two touchdowns two picks I'm not gonna be sitting there like oh I don't know man we sure Jaylen Daniels is the same guy coming back from the injury threw two picks in the FC like no we're not gonna be doing that it's like he's still a dude he's still a dude so I don't know how much of that can change it's more so just can jayen say healthy the last one here for that doesn't matter um I think the occasional breakdown as with all of these there is a line and this is kind of something we talked about earlier with some of the blitz stuff you're going to have some mistakes that happen early in the season that could be a penalty that could be a turnover that could be a fumble that could be um a mistake not picking up a blitz that could be a guy running the wrong route that could be a coverage bust ideally none of them would happen but in the first game of the season like to me it almost feels inevitable that like it's going to happen for every program and in at least one way in at least a few ways and a few plays and you want to limit it as much as possible those are going to happen first game of the season getting over some of those stuff right they happen even mid season right I mean stuff happens all the time right um but you just don't want consistent mistakes you want guys learning from their mistakes you want guys moving forward and not having the same issue again so if you have four coverage busts that's a problem if you have one coverage bust not ideal but it's like okay we'll get that fixed moving forward to next week so the occasional breakdown I'm not going to take away if it's a consistent issue then you do take it away if that kind of makes sense okay we're going to finish up my three most underrated KU football players heading into the 2024 season with lock on Jayhawks this episode of the show is brought to you Five Hour Energy as a new parent I'm constantly up uh I don't know it could be different times throughout the night could be at the crack of dawn some nights and need a little energy boost right that could be an energy boost in the morning to fuel the start of my day sometimes it's that like after lunch sometimes it's that like two to three o'clock you need that final push for the day well with zero sugar and a convenient portable size 5 Hour Energy is the perfect pickme up for getting stuff done the 5our Energy website has flavors Galore like watermelon tropical burst and grape Berry and more there's a flavor for everyone to them all so on the site you even have the option to build your own 12 pack or 24 pack you choose the flavors and it's delivered right to your door if you go to 5our energy.com that is the quote the number five hour energy.com and get some 5our energy product today you can use my promo code locked on CFB to receive 20% off your order this offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used on other promotions the code is not good on subscription orders so just go to 5our energy.com thank you again tuning in to locked on Jayhawks we're going to have on Tuesday we'll get into the to deep that came out for KU football on your Monday and maybe some of the comments that Lance libl had leading up into the week uh we're gonna have Nick schwar on with us later this week we'll get to our game preview of course you're not going to want to miss we will have a postcast out after the game ends on Thursday night into Friday morning with the results of the game and and talking about that and we'll have some more content coming at you over Labor Day weekend so uh what we're going to do in this segment is going to be my three most underrated KU football players for the 2024 season a couple honorable mentions honestly like this might sound ludicrous being that he's one of the best players on the team in the conference in the country but that's Devon Neil because I I think it this he's like getting underrated like you look at the ESPN list that ESPN came out with like the top 100 players Devon Neil wasn't on it you look at some of these preseason magazines and Publications now some of them have him as a first team all Big 12 or second Team all or something like that but a lot of them don't have him on either of those things I consistently seen him behind Taj Brooks which if you caught our preseason Big 12 episode with all the lock on Big 12 uh episodes I kind of went into that like Devon Neil's getting punished for just having less carries because KU has a good backup and runs less plays per game and stuff like that um anyway Devon Neil is being underrated nationally which is is weird to say because he is he's an absolute stud and he is still getting underrated but anyway that's neither here nor there also honorable mention I would love to just for the three players just pick all three KU receivers you know what I mean like I absolutely could um but because I wouldn't really know if I'm just picking like one of them which one to pick because I could make a case for all three and pretty much an equal argument of why they're being underrated um I don't know I guess I've seen LJ Arnold pop up on like Alig 12 third team or fourth teams on some of these preseason magazines so maybe you'd lean more towards Skinner or Grim but still I feel like Trevor Wilson have a big role on this team uh but just because it's the KU receiving Court as a whole I feel like is underrated I'm just going to say the whole receiving core is underrated and that would be the most underrated position group in probably the conference and and one of them certainly nationally when you're talking about that so now that we got those out of the way uh in no particular order I'm gonna say Michael Ford I continue to say that he is one of the best guards in the Big 12 that was proven by his PF grade last year he was also good the season before that now he's back for another year I think he was banged up a little bit during fall camp but um I I don't know that there's any expectation other than him starting the first game of the season he's a smart player he's a very good guard for KU and he helps things go in the middle of that offense and a good pass Blocker in the middle of that offense um I think Michael Ford is one of the best guards in the country and you don't really hear his name pop up very often now like you look at ESPN college football 25 the video game like it rated him very well um but a lot of other places you don't really see him on yeah some of those preseason award lists and stuff like that and I think you should be getting more credit JB Brown another guy on here and he's somebody who it sounds like has had an awesome summer an awesome camp for KU I was so high on JB Brown ever since last year he had great PFF grades at Bowling Green came over to Kansas and just kind of a different player at the linebacker position like KU had a lot of You Know Rich Miller good leader cerebral player in there JB Brown a physical freak and will absolutely thump you and he made some big uh impacts on last season's uh Team obviously you think of the Oklahoma forced fumble uh he's going to be able to come up and hit you and when you look at Kansas trying to improve their run defense I look at having JB Brown in there more often as being able to help you do that and impose some will and impose a little bit of fear in the opposing offensive guy who has the football like there is still an element of fear and physicality in football and so uh I think JB Brown's going to be a huge addition there um I think both JB Brown and Cornell wheeler are going to be good linebackers for KU I think this could end up being ku's best linebacker course since I don't know whatever the was there a crossover with Drew procs and and Joe Denine I think there was like that's a that's a good linebacker core it's different though this one might even more athletic or athletic might not be the word this one might be more like more physical than that one uh in another way but anyway uh I think this will be a good linebacking core and JB Brown is a big reason why and then uh DJ Withers is the last one here it feels like Withers you keep hearing about him having that good summer having that good camp um he already showed a lot of progression really every year in his career and earning a lot of starting reps and and a lot of uh you know snaps that he played a season ago and now it feels like he might be taking the next step now it feels like he could be going from this is something I kind of talked about in the defensive tackle room preview thank you to every Dar if you already caught it it feels like you have a lot of good solid defensive tackles but can somebody at least one person make the step up from being a solid player to being a great player from being uh a quality player to being an all Big 12 player and it feels like DJ Withers might do that and as much as we have questions about okay what's the pass rush G to look like although it feels like some of those have you feel a little bit better about where you are now than where you were at the start of fall Camp um if you have a good interior pass Rush with DJ Withers right we see it with Chris Jones with the Chiefs that's something that can kind of alleviate some of those questions on the outside too and make things a little bit easier for the guys on the outside if you're having to double that guy on the inside so I think DJ Withers could be in store for a huge season and be kind of a beast for this defense and um I think that's a good sign that I just picked a bunch of guys who are in the front seven on the defense and the front on the offense that you're going to have good play at the line of scrimmage this year for your KU that'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast we're just a few days away from KU Lind W so make sure you subscribe to the show tell your friends about it and thank you so much for listening couldn't do it without you we're here guys see you tomorrow for another episode of LJ