Kansas football: How will Khalil Herbert’s absence impact the Jayhawks?
After a bizarre series of events last Saturday, it seems that running back Khalil Herbert will be leaving the Kansas football team and apparently look to transfer.
As if getting smoked 51-14 by TCU wasn’t bad enough, Kansas football also lost its leading rusher, Khalil Herbert. In a strange sequence of events, Herbert was announced as out for the game that morning due to “personal reasons.”
The news not only came as a shock to fans but apparently came as a shock to the Kansas football team as well. Senior Bryce Torneden was quoted after the game saying that he found out “right before” the game.
Under NCAA rules, players may play still consider their season a redshirt year if they play less than five games. Being that the TCU matchup would have been game number five, it’s likely that Herbert will transfer to another school.
Herbert has been a big part of the Jayhawks offense all season long. He led Kansas with 348 rushing yards on only 43 attempts, which averages out to 8.9 yards per attempt. Herbert also led Kansas in rushing touchdowns with two.
While he undoubtedly left his team out to dry there are two sides to every story, and Herbert may have felt underutilized by Les Miles the Kansas coaching staff.
Against Boston College, Herbert has a career game, rushing for 187 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 attempts against the Eagles defense. The next week against West Virginia, however, Herbert only received seven rushes for 27 yards.
It seems extremely possible that Herbert may have been upset in the lack of touches against West Virginia, and rightfully so. Whatever your opinion may be on the whole situation, the coaching staff did a terrible job of distributing the football in that 24-29 home loss to the Mountaineers.
Kansas will have to rely on sophomore Pooka Williams and freshman Velton Gardner to make up for Herbert. Last season, Williams was Kansas football’s biggest playmaker with 1,125 rushing yards.
Gardner got his first reps of the season last week with four attempts for 61 yards and a touchdown. While those are great numbers, most of Gardner’s playing time came after the game was out of reach for the Jayhawks.
Still, Gardner showed some promise and it’ll be interesting to see how he will contribute for the rest of the season.
Also. POSTGAME: Kansas football vs. TCU Summary and Reaction to Jayhawks loss. light
Some fans will defend Herbert, while others will say good riddance, but whatever your opinion may be: the road for Kansas football just got that much tougher.