Kansas football: Jason Bean did just fine filling in for Jalon Daniels

Although he was not the game-changer Jalon Daniels typically operates as, Jason Bean did more than enough to grant Kansas football a Week 1 victory.

Despite being listed as the starter heading into warmups, Jalon Daniels did not take a snap in the Kansas Jayhawks season opener.

Jason Bean had to fill in a similar role that he did last year when Daniels went down for several weeks with a shoulder injury. He stayed ready and put up a respectable performance en route to the team’s 48-17 victory over Missouri State.

A transfer from North Texas, Bean assumed starting duties in 2021 as a redshirt junior. He threw for 1,252 yards and ran for 400, tallying eight touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to keep the job away from Daniels. An injury sustained by Bean in the K-State game two years ago gave him a clear path to playing time, and he took advantage of his opportunity when the Jayhawks beat Texas on the road in overtime.

Bean could have transferred out after he lost the job in 2021 — that’s what most collegiate student-athletes would do nowadays — but he didn’t. He bought into Lance Leipold’s program and stuck around even though he wasn’t the starter. And despite Daniels’ emergence as the face of Kansas football, he committed his final year of eligibility to the Jayhawks.

In last night’s contest, Bean took every snap as KU’s signal caller until Cole Ballard came in to take handoff reps later in the fourth. He completed 22-of-28 passes for 276 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On five carries, he amassed 41 yards.

While Missouri State’s defense was clearly outmatched by KU’s offense, he performed well enough to eventually prevail in blowout fashion. Considering a walk-on freshman who had never taken a snap was the only other option at quarterback, it goes to show how important it is to have someone like Bean on the roster.

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