Kansas football: Jalon Daniels ‘making progress’ but not expected to start vs. Oklahoma

Jalon Daniels continues to work back from his back injury, but Kansas football head coach Lance Leipold said Jason Bean will likely start against Oklahoma.

The Kansas Jayhawks have held out hope for Jalon Daniels’ long-awaited return to the gridiron. However, it appears that fans will have to wait at least another week for that.

Daniels, who has thrown for 705 yards and five touchdowns across three games this season, missed the team’s Week 1 contest and has been absent from the field since he was a late-game scratch against Texas in Week 5. The Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year has battled a lingering back injury since the beginning of fall camp.

Kansas football fell to Oklahoma State for its second loss of the season heading into their bye. A full week of rest allowed more of a recovery for Daniels, but according to head coach Lance Leipold, he still isn’t where the trainers want him to be.

“He’s making progress. It’s still not where it needs to know,” Leipold said. “Again, (Tuesday) will be a big day. I haven’t heard what the trainers are going to say, but right now I would expect Jason Bean to be the starting quarterback and that’s the direction we’re heading.”

Bean has started four of KU’s seven games in 2023 and looks poised to start his fifth this Saturday during the homecoming game. The North Texas transfer has thrown for 913 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions with a 65.3% completion percentage. He has also split even in his four starts, with two wins and two losses.

The team wants Daniels to work back from his injury, but Leipold maintained his confidence in Bean.

“I feel that sometimes when I answer these questions because when you’re talking about someone like Jalon, it’s like ‘hurry up and get back here because this other guy can’t get it done.’ I don’t feel that’s the case. I had a national writer said he thought we had the best backup quarterback in the country.”

While he did not rule out Daniels’ availability completely, he essentially confirmed the star signal caller would miss the Oklahoma showdown. One thing he did was assure the Kansas football fanbase that there have been no conversations about him transferring from the program or missing the remainder of the season.

“Again, part of my conversations with Jalon, are you comfortable with everything? Has your family been comfortable with things? And I think everybody is.”

“I’ll also say internally we are probably as equally disappointed and at times not frustrated at the medical situation but just the fact that Jalon Daniels isn’t on the field,” he continued. “And we have a chance to watch him and his talents and have his personality impacted on the field 100% like he always does. That’s disappointing because you want especially a player his caliber and the position he plays available for you each and every Saturday.”

Daniels did not dress up for last week’s loss. However, he did stay on the sidelines throughout the game, which is an encouraging stop. Right now, the coaches believe he’ll be back next week vs. Iowa State.