2022 JaySquawk 2022 2nd Quarter Report Card

[Bundy]

Kansas WR Trenton Adam scampers with a rare reception against Oklahoma State during Week 6, 2022.

 

GAME 4: W 34-3 vs Oklahoma State

GAME 5: L 21-3 at Oklahoma

GAME 6: W 24-10 at Texas Tech

 

Following a 2-1 start to the 2022 season, Kansas entered the 2nd quarter of their season with sky-high expectations. A lot of the 1st Quarter of the season was left reflecting on the 2021 season, which finished with a loss to Missouri that put Kansas at 5-7 and missing a bowl berth.

 

Quarterbacks

Kansas redshirt freshman QB Tyler Summers took the brunt of the blame for the inefficiencies in Kansas' offense. Summers has a lot of upside - and can be productive on the ground - but was rating as one of the worst collegiate QBs in the country, prompting KU coach @Bundy to make the switch to senior QB Jeff Maeda, who had previously started the 2021 season opener before being benched himself.

 

Maeda has not lit it up through the air - and he certainly offers little to nothing in the ground game - but he's been significantly better in the turnover department. Maeda isn't given many chances to chuck the ball around (just 44 attempts through 3 games), and he's struggled to find a rhythm, completing just 26 of those attempts. But 26/44 is 59.09%, a major lift from Summers' 48.61%. Maeda has also thrown for just 201 yards (4.56 yards/att) which is down over a yard from Summers. But Maeda also has 3 touchdown passes and no interceptions.

 

Grade: F

 

Maeda has proven he can take care of the football, but he's not one Kansas can ask to take chances either. The gameplan doesn't ask him to do much with his arm - but uneasiness has KU faithful pushing to see junior athlete Aaron Diaz take some snaps.

 

Kansas is bowl or bust - and with one of the toughest remaining slates, at least in the Big 12, if they're eliminated early expect to see more of Summers. If Maeda is holding them back, perhaps they'll look to Diaz.

 

Running Backs

The highlight of the season has been the success of Kansas' trio of toters. Cody Casspi won't be on anyone's Heisman hopeful list unless he has a Cinderella 2nd half of the season, but over the last 3 games he's rushed for 433 yards and 2 TDs on a 7.34 avg, bringing his season stats to 627 yards, 6.46 avg, and 4 TD. He had a 212 yard statement game against Oklahoma State, and Kansas will need to ride his momentum. Casspi has hauled in 3/4 targets for 12 yards from Maeda.

 

Bene' Humber was previously profiled as an All-Conference player who lost his job to a younger Casspi, but he's still getting his fair share of carries as well. Starting the year he was only averaging 7 carries per game, and he's doubled that in the Maeda-led offense, with 42 carries for 202 yards and 2 TDs the last 3 games. On the season he's up to 319 yards and 3 TD on a 5.06 avg. He added 1 reception on 2 targets for 10 yards.

 

Impressive true fullback Marcell Maysonet does a lot of the dirty work in this offense, rarely getting scoring opportunities but facing many stacked boxes. He's been getting the lion's share of rush attempts, with 62 over the last three games and 124 total on the season. His 272 yards this quarter bring him to 568 yards, a 4.58 avg, and 2 TDs thus far.

 

3rd string halfback Jacob Flores has managed to find himself earning 5 touches for 15 yards. Flores recently expressed interest in transferring to the FCS and so maybe his "grass is greener" ideas earned him a few chances here, but he doesn't look to be a long term impact this season, if not in the future.

 

Grade: A-

 

If Kansas is going to pull 2 more wins out of the remaining gauntlet that is their schedule, there's no better group than the one that's in this RB stable.

 

Receivers

Seniors Trenton Adam and Adam Williams have had disappointing seasons.

 

T.A. has hauled in 7 of Maeda's 12 targets, gaining 59 yards and notching a rare KU TD.

 

A. W. has managed 3 receptions on 4 targets for 32 yards, with a 21 yard catch on his only opportunity against Texas Tech.

 

The rest of the receiving corps has been non-existent.

 

Grade: D

 

It might be better to give the Adams an "incomplete" grade, as they simply haven't had opportunity to do much of anything. They're entirely dependent on the poor state of the QB room, and that's held them and the team back. An "average college QB" could have the pair looking at 1000 yard seasons - while they might struggle to reach anywhere close to that mark as a duo this year.

 

Tight Ends

Kansas has leaned big into 2-TE sets this year, and they coach their poor QBs to look for them as quick outlets often.

 

Alex Atkins "exploded" when the team first turned to Maeda, with Atkins hauling in 5 of 6 targets for 52 yards and a TD against Oklahoma State. In the following games, he's turned 9 targets into 5 receptions for 29 yards.

 

Steel Blue was Kansas' big get last year in recruiting, a shiny fancy toy that should maybe have sat in the box this year rather than being opened right away. 2 receptions on 4 targets for 7 yards has been laughable. There's internal thought of shutting Blue down for the year and letting him focus on mental reps until 2024 - he's managed 3 receptions for 10 yards across 10 targets in a disappointing freshman campaign.

 

Grade: D

 

Atkins has shown potential when given opportunity.

 

Offensive Line

Oklahoma terrorized Jeff Maeda for 3 sacks, but those 3 sacks are still the only ones allowed by this group across (just) 119 dropbacks.

 

During this quarter, Kansas rushed for 438 yards against Oklahoma State, 229 Oklahoma, and 295 Texas Tech. 962 rush yards in these three games have gone for 5.40 yards per attempt, up from their first quarter.

 

Grade: A-

 

Kansas still can't throw the ball but it still doesn't seem like the fault of the line. They can pound the rock all day.

 

Defensive Line

6 sacks againts Oklahoma State and 2 more against Texas Tech have opposing scouts taking notice. Zack Luke has added another 3 sacks (bringing him up to 6.0 on the year) with 5 TFLs (10.5) and could be playing himself into All-Conference contention. Randal Holmes is up to 4.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks, though he could begin a rotation with Eli Reyes at that end spot.

 

On the interior Mike Brantly has added 4 TFL and 2.5 sacks, which brings him to 8 and 3.0 respectively. Dante Gates has tapered off as KU has gotten into conference play, with better offensive linemen focusing on the big man.

 

Grade: B

 

Teams struggle to rush against Kansas, especially RBs - its like a night and day switch from KU's own offense. But they didn't touch Pace Frandsen in the loss to the Sooners, which is key when needing to beat a big time opponent.

 

Linebackers

Ziggy Sands is up to 40 tackles, 3 asst., and 13 TFL on the year, practically mirroring his 1st quarter stats.

 

ROLB Aaron Freeman has notched 11 tackles recently, totaling 21 tackles and 1 asst.

 

LOLB Cooper Morrison has almost entirely disappeared since moving to the LOLB role from the right side - which is surprising since the move was made to get him in the face of ball carriers more often. Morrison only made 2 tackles this quarter.

 

Grade: C

 

Ziggy on his own deserves an A if not A+, but the OLBs in this defense have underwhelmed individually. Opposing RBs have 13 receptions, meaning opportunity is there to play the ball or wrack up tackles, but it just isn't happening on the edge.

 

DBs

Kansas swapped their nickel corner and strong safety after a slow start, which has helped them generate 3 interceptions in as many weeks (FS Kevin Suarez x1, CB Chaz Tuivailala x2). Kansas still is in the negative in the passing turnovers department on the year, but if Chaz can return to his All-American form, as he's done the last two weeks, they should be able to give their offense a shot.

 

Austin Duvernay-Tardif of Oklahoma State should be a 1st rounder in a future NFL draft - he's going to put up yardage. But KU held him to just 5 receptions on 13 targets. They also limited fellow OSU WR Colton Smith to 5 receptions on 15 targets.

 

The only receiver to truly best them was OU WR Justin Neary - going 7/9 for 158 and a TD.

 

Grade: C+

 

The secondary holds its own, but the Jayhawks will only go as far as these DBs let them. 3 INT over the last 90 attempts is big.

 

Specialists

Freshman phenom Victor Weigel continues to overperform his recruit rating, punting 19 more times for a 53.58 avg this quarter alone, and is up to 53.09avg on the year. 7 more punts inside the 20 bring him up to 14 across 35 punts.

 

Freshman kicker Jake Ramirez adds 7/7 XP to now be 13/13 on the year, with FG makes of 49, 35, 38, and 30 this quarter (9/12 FG, 52 Long, 3/3 between 40-50, 2/5 from 50+).

 

Grade: A

 

Ramirez is taking care of business and looks like a future star, while Weigel has held his own through difficult field position.

 

 

SQUAWK CHALK

Week 9: Texas

Kansas looks to upset coach @joopear and the Longhorns, who are climbing in national recognition. As coach of Arizona during the spring, Joopear got a first hand look as how to handle the Jayhawks.

 

Week 10: at Wisconsin

Casspi and Co. head north to Camp Randall during the heart of autumn. While not quite the Frozen Tundra, there's a chance of snow and certainly blustery, biting winds off of Lake Mendota. Wisconsin was a recruiting hotbed for the Jayhawks in 2021, but this will also be a homecoming for KU coach @Bundy who grew up not much more than an hour away.

 

Week 11: TCU

Perhaps TCU should come up to Wisconsin a week earlier to Jump Around, because @Giambro has the Horned Frogs hoppin'. An excellent opportunity to showcase All-American CB Chaz Tuivailala against an elite passing attack.

[kgreene829]

Amazing media piece