Kansas football: Jayhawks are obviously still a work in progress

Folks are understandably disappointed in Kansas football’s performance last Saturday against Coastal Carolina, but the Jayhawks are still a work in progress.

Kansas football fans have had to be patient for way too long. The Jayhawks have been tough to watch for over a decade now, and based on their performance against Coastal Carolina things aren’t looking up in 2020. The bottom line is that the Jayhawks are still a work in progress, and it may take some time for Les Miles and his staff to get Kansas turned around.

The good news is that the Jayhawks do seem to be headed down the right path. In Miles’ 2020 and 2021 recruiting class, the vast majority of the commits are high schoolers and not JUCO guys. That’s not to say JUCO guys are bad, but you can’t build a team out of transfers from community colleges; the previous coaching regime proved that.

It’s important to keep in mind that the Jayhawks are using two quarterbacks that have very little experience at the Power Five level, an offensive line that seems to struggle, and a defense that returned very few players from the previous season. Miles and his staff will have to get creative when it comes to figuring out how to make up for these deficiencies because this could be an ugly season if nothing is done about them.

Finally, here’s to hoping that the Jayhawks’ three turnovers in the first half against the Chanticleers were just a fluke. Coastal Carolina scored 21 points off the Jayhawks’ three turnovers, leading them to a 28-3 halftime lead. You can’t really blame the defense too much when they’re on the field that much, and when the Kansas offense got things figured out, the defense tightened up.

Kansas didn’t turn the ball over a single time in the second half, outscoring Coastal Carolina 20-10. By then, it was too late for the Jayhawks though.

Kansas football fans are tired of hearing this and rightly so, but it’s going to take time. Given the oddities of this 2020 football season coupled with a relatively new coach and it’s tough to judge the program too much. Especially this early in the season.