Pair of Big 12 Honors Reflect the Potential on Offense for Kansas Football This Year

The Big 12 Conference announced on Monday that Kansas football quarterback Jalon Daniels has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week following his impressive season-opening performance against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Saturday inside the new David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.

Daniels and the Kansas Jayhawks defeated Fresno State by a decisive score of 31-7 thanks to a strong showing from the KU offense. Daniels threw for 176 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 47 yards in the win.

This is the second time Daniels has won the Big 12 Player of the Week award during his KU career, the other time being in September 2022 after KU defeated the Houston Cougars 48-30. In that game, Daniels threw for 158 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

KU’s offensive line was also recognized on Monday as the Big 12’s Offensive Line of the Week. The unit gave up just one sack in the game, allowing Daniels to connect with 10 different receivers. They also paved the way for 207 yards rushing and one rushing touchdown on the day.

While there were only four Big 12 teams in action this past weekend, the awards are a positive sign of things to come for this Kansas football offense – Daniels in particular.

He never looked fully comfortable in Jeff Grimes’ offensive system last year and it showed in the first several weeks with uncharacteristic turnovers and several missed throws.

Against Fresno State, Daniels was in total command. He had zero turnovers and just two incompletions – one of which was a dropped pass by tight end DeShawn Hanika.

He and the offensive line, along with offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski and co-offensive coordinator Matt Lubick, appeared in sync nearly the entire game, and that will go a long way toward KU being successful the remainder of this season if they can continue that type of connection.

This team will go as far as Daniels takes them, but that production is going to require a joint effort between him, his blockers and the skill players around them.

Based on what we saw against Fresno State this weekend, the KU offense appears ready to answer that challenge and claim their stake as one of the most cohesive offenses in the Big 12 this year.

The Jayhawks will look to build upon their season-opening success when they host Wagner this Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.