Kansas football: True freshman Jalon Daniels should be permanent starter

Quarterback troubles have always been a regular part of the Kansas football struggles. With the right development, Jalon Daniels could be the answer this Jayhawk offense needs.

Kansas football has struggled this year on offense, and it seems that there hasn’t been much progressive change so far. The Jayhawks are 0-5 (0-4 Big 12) and have seen their share of issues both on the roster and the field. When the season began, it was clear that head coach Les Miles was going to have to test the waters when searching for a quarterback to lead this offense.

We’ve seen 3 different options this season, and between junior Miles Kendrick and senior Thomas MacVittie, there isn’t enough to justify keeping either of them in the starting role. With the direction of the season and the lengthy eligibility of freshman Jalon Daniels, it would be absurd for Kansas to continue trying to make one of the upperclassmen quarterbacks fit.

I think both Kendrick and MacVittie have had experience here in Lawrence, and both have contributed to building the offense in practice. However, I am not convinced by their time on the field this season that it would be productive to continue fitting them into this offense. They’ll need to be ready to step up in an injury situation, but that’s beside the point here.

Now I can’t simply blame our offensive struggles on our quarterback situation, there has been a large number of adjustments made to the offensive line that has plagued the Jayhawk’s ability to move the chains. It’s a shame we haven’t been able to keep MacVittie, Kendrick, and Daniels protected. With a more sustainable offensive line, we might even have a different record right now.

Kansas’ offense has been the obvious shortcoming this year. I know the stats may not reflect this, as Kansas allows an average of 45 points per game. This however has been coupled with an offense that refuses to convert crucial drives, which only adds to the defensive demise for the Jayhawks. It’s been a routine struggle for Kansas to compete this year, falling behind early being the common issue.

Let’s bring the scope back to Jalon Daniels, a true freshman introduced to us this season in Week 2 against Baylor. We saw more of a spark out of Daniels vs. our upperclassmen options. Daniels has a collective 381 passing yards on the season and has shown the ability to scramble in tight pinch situations which found him in the end zone twice vs. Kansas State. There’s been more excitement watching Daniels take operations into his own hands, but this isn’t going to get the job done for the Jayhawks.

Having a talented leader in the pocket is something every team is looking for these days, and I think Kansas football has the opportunity to take Daniels’ potential and build an offense around it. This would be a step in the right direction for Les Miles and his staff, especially since the more time Daniels sees, it’s much more likely he’ll improve with the offense around him.

Something has to give here going forward, and it’s clear that coach Miles has expressed a lot of interest in Daniels this season. The freshman’s injury sustained in Week 3 was a setback but we should expect to see more playing time for Jalon Daniels going forward. Kansas has a difficult remaining schedule, with matchups against Big 12 talent Iowa State, Oklahoma, and Texas. I don’t think we’re going to see any miracles heading into the bottom half of our schedule, but one can dream I suppose.