Kansas football: QB competition not over yet according to Les Miles
Despite sticking with their starting quarterback throughout their previous game, Kansas football head coach Les Miles says the competition is not over.
There’s no question who the most important player on any given team is. Even your friend that knows nothing about football probably knows that the quarterback is the one that leads the team both mentally and physically. So the fact that Kansas football still doesn’t have a set in stone starter at QB is certainly cause for alarm this season.
So far, three quarterbacks have seen action this season for the Jayhawks: senior Thomas MacVittie, junior Miles Kendrick, and true freshman Jalon Daniels.
MacVittie and Kendrick took the majority of snaps in Kansas’ season opener, with neither QB looking too bad. Interestingly, Miles and his staff elected to start true freshman Jalon Daniels in the Jayhawks’ game last Saturday at Baylor, and he played the entire game.
Daniels only took a few snaps in garbage time against Coastal Carolina, so this was essentially his first chance to show what he’s got. For a guy with no college experience, he didn’t look too bad. Daniels completed 19 out of 33 passing attempts for no touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s also credited with 14 rushes for 23 yards, as well as two fumbles that were recovered by the offense.
After the Baylor game, the big question on everyone’s mind was whether or not Daniels would be “the guy” for Kansas football moving forward. Here is what head coach Les Miles said regarding the Jayhawks’ quarterback situation: “I would be hard-pressed to not let the competition continue considering we’ve got an injured quarterback and a guy that’s really impressing.”
MacVittie is presumably the injured quarterback while Daniels was the guy that was impressing, but if the competition is still ongoing, why not let Kendrick get some snaps against Baylor? Most everyone seems down to ride with Daniels and that’s fine, but Kendrick was not bad against Coastal Carolina (15/25, 2 TD, 1 INT), and it would have been nice to evaluate him against a Big 12 defense.
Perhaps Miles and his staff are heavily leaning toward Daniels and while there is still room for competition, Daniels has the inside track. It’s tough to speculate, but the one positive for this year is that this season will not count as a year of eligibility per the NCAA. That means that Daniels will still have four years of eligibility after this season no matter how many games he plays in, Kendrick will have two years of eligibility no matter how many he plays in, etc.
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Kansas football has struggled to find reliable quarterbacks, so it’s understandable that fans want a guy like Daniels that will be “the guy” for the foreseeable future. He certainly could turn out to be just that, but it looks like only time will tell.
The Jayhawks take on Oklahoma State this Saturday in Lawrence at 2:30 PM. It’ll certainly be interesting to see who takes the majority of snaps that game.