Kansas football: Finding a competent quarterback is critical this offseason

After decades of futility at the quarterback position, Kansas football has to find a leader to replace Carter Stanley for next season.

If there’s one statistic that sums up Kansas football in the past decade, it’s that the Jayhawks have averaged less than three wins per year. It’s extremely sad that any power-five conference is this bad for this long, and season after season has been one failure after another.

Everything starts with recruiting though, and it’s tough to recruit at Kansas for a multitude of reasons.

First of all, the national perception that the Jayhawks have is horrendous. The program is seen as a perennial loser, and that’s pretty accurate. It’s also hard to recruit when a new coach is hired every few years. It makes building credibility nearly impossible, and every new coach has to start all over again building relationships with in-state and out-of-state coaches and recruits.

If there’s one position that the Jayhawks need to turn things around though, its the quarterback.

This season wasn’t too bad with senior Carter Stanley leading the way, the only problem is that he’s gone now, so where does that leave Kansas football?

Right now, the Jayhawks have six quarterbacks listed on the roster that aren’t graduating: Thomas MacVittie, Miles Kendrick, Jakob Ahlschwede, Miles Fallin, Torry Locklin, and Jordan Preston.

Names to keep an eye on consist of senior MacVittie, junior Kendrick, and sophomore Locklin, as those three will likely be the main competitors for the starting job next season. All three saw some action in a limited capacity this year, but none got ample time on the field to establish themselves as a frontrunner.

The thing that separates this offseason from years past is the addition of a proven coach for the quarterbacks.

Brent Dearmon was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach by Les Miles halfway through the season, and the Kansas offense improved because of it. It’ll be exciting to see what Dearmon can do with an entire offseason to work with the entire offense, and develop a competent starting quarterback.

Kansas football fans are starved for a winner, and maybe, just maybe 2020 is the year. Everyone knows that the quarterback is the most important player on the field, and this may be the year that the Jayhawks have a truly great quarterback leading the team.