Kansas football: Jalon Daniels injury leaves unknowns for Jayhawk offense

Kansas football quarterback Jalon Daniels sustained a scary injury last Saturday on the road against the Oklahoma Sooners.

Another loss was handed to Kansas football Saturday night, and with it came a season’s worth of frustration to starting quarterback Jalon Daniels. Kansas didn’t start great but managed to hold the Sooners to 14-0 by the end of the first quarter. From here, the Jayhawk offensive line neglected to protect Daniels in the pocket, our defense fell through under the Oklahoma receiving core, all of which lead to a 62-9 blowout loss for Les Miles.

Tale as old as time, the Jayhawks found another road loss for their schedule but it was the late injury to Jalon Daniels that may have sealed the deal on a winless season for Kansas. In the fourth quarter, Daniels fell back to avoid pressure but was bent up in a dangerous sack from the Sooner defense.

This injury sent Daniels to the sideline for the rest of the game, although this wasn’t the end of the story. Following a rush from junior quarterback Miles Kendrick, Daniels had reportedly collided with a brick wall after the play spilled out of bounds. I guess 9 sacks on the day wasn’t enough for Daniels. It’s extremely hard to watch the young quarterback get banged up like that, and I can’t imagine it sits too well with Daniels.

This Wednesday, I’m hoping Les Miles can address the situation facing our offensive line. At this rate, without proper protection, Daniels is going to be regularly subjected to brutal Big 12 defenses. Due to our poor presence on the line, we’re even seeing our rushing attack being denied. Freshman running back Daniel Hishaw wasn’t able to get anything going despite his talent.

Due to this injury from Daniels, we are going to be stuck with Miles Kendrick most likely. This isn’t going to change much for us offensively, it may even hurt our rarely used receivers who’ve seen their share of difficulties this season. The Jayhawks have another bye week this week, so we will be spared some heartache this coming weekend.

The season isn’t closing up to be a very positive one for Kansas. We can probably expect Daniels to return in the final couple of games of the season, but without a doubt, his injury vs. Oklahoma is probably the final blow to the Jayhawks football season. At this point, we can probably expect a more diverse rotation of players going forward, getting everyone as many reps in before the off-season. That seems to be the only positive move from Les Mile’s disposal right now.