17 Days to Kansas Football: Camp Update - Daniels leads QB race, Grant impressing
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The start of the season is fast approaching, and that means that camp battles are intensifying as players look to earn starting positions for the beginning of the season. There have been a lot of big updates since the last time we looked at in at camp. Here are the top takeaways:
Jalon Daniels has improved massively since his first season.leads the QB race, but it's still a competition.
Kansas quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski took the podium on Saturday and talked about the things he has seen from Jalon Daniels that ultimately led head coach Lance Leipold to tab him as the presumptive starter in the season opener.
Specifically, he pointed to the mindset that Daniels had last season when he was watching other players take reps at the quarterback position in both practice and the games. Of particular note was the revelation that Daniels would act out the reps on the sidelines, practicing the footwork required to be able to execute the play, even though he wasn't able to have his hands physically on the ball. Zebrowski used this as an example of the benefit of working through mental reps in addition to physical reps.
Additionally, one of the focuses for the quarterback room has been to make sure that all the players recognize what can be considered a good play:
You don't always have to make a great play. Sometimes a great play is a check down, sometimes a great play is throwing it away. Sometimes a great play is scrambling to get back to the line of scrimmage, and we still have the ball in our hands.
But the big thing that Zebrowski hammered home was that the quarterbacks have had to learn from every single play, even when there is a mistake. As he put it, "there's never a bad play in practice." He continued, "As long as you learn from the play, it's a great play."
Competition is still fierce across every position.
Despite the big improvement by Daniels, Zebrowski made sure to highlight the competition that is still happening at the position. In fact, he talked about how his favorite situations are where the QB position has competition, because "guys have to keep performing daily, and keep striving for excellence daily, because the next guy is going to be able to do that as well."
And that competition isn't limited to just the quarterback position, as Zebrowski's mantra of "Competition makes each room better" was echoed by both defensive backs coach Jordan Peterson and defensive ends coach Taiwo Onatolu in their media availability.
Part of that competition has led to some big changes at other positions too. It appears that multiple players have moved along the defensive line, as Caleb Sampson seems to be playing more on the inside while Malcolm Lee is playing more on the edge. Marvin Grant was hailed by Peterson as someone who has thrived in that competitive environment and has improved drastically. And the biggest change has been the shakeup in the wide receiver position, where the line between starter and backup is very hazy and subject to change daily.
Healthy competition is key.
Sometime competition can be a problem, especially if it creates a toxic environment. But the sentiment from the coaches has been that this competition has actually provided a bonding experience, with players encouraging each other and celebrating each other's successes.
And that ultimately is what is going to enable this team to be successful. Because as we've heard multiple times, this is a team that is going to need to play a lot of players in order to compete at the level that they want to compete.
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