Jalon Daniels' Status for Tonight's Game Uncertain

Despite early indications that everything was back to normal for Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Jalon Daniels, a recent report indicates that he may not be as fully recovered as we initially thought.

All of training camp, the Kansas Jayhawks coaching staff mentioned a back injury that was bothering Daniels, which was both a blessing and a curse. Given his electric performance last season, there isn't much concern about whether he needs training camp to get to peak performance. And coming into Week 1 of the season, we got an indication that Daniels was a full participant in practice.

But noted Kansas Football insider Bryson Stricker tweeted out some concerns last night based on what he has been hearing.

For those who care for an explanation.

I fear and now believe that everything I was hearing the past four weeks about JD’s injury is more and more true. I don’t think it’s a serious injury but one that is nagging and will not go away.

I’m no doctor, far from it. But this has…
— Bryson Stricker (@BryBryStrick) September 1, 2023

A few things to note about this:

Stricker's reports don't indicate that he is unavailable, just that he won't be starting. It is still entirely possible that he plays later in the game when the game is well in hand.
Leipold's statement earlier this week did not actually state that he was 100% starting. He said that Daniels was back at practice in "doing everything" and that he expected him to start. It may sound like a lot of semantics, but there is still a gap between participating fully in practice and being 100% healed.
Given the expected level of opposition in this game, I'm not extremely worried if they use it as a tune-up to test out Daniels' back.

To that last point, Leipold's full quote (as noted by 247 Sports' Michael Swain) indicated that they still expect the back tightness to persist this week and that they are working through it.

When asked about the balance #KUfball will have to strike between Jalon Daniels knocking the rust off and avoiding aggravating his back tightness in the season opener, here's what Lance Leipold had to say...

Story: https://t.co/SSnwCj0FJ9 pic.twitter.com/3av8qvBpSN
— Michael Swain (@MSwain247) August 28, 2023

To sum it all up, you shouldn't let the fact that Daniels is not completely healed worry you too much. While he may not be as far along as we all want him to be, the Jayhawks have a very capable backup in Jason Bean. They should be fine in the early part of the season no matter who starts.