There is no doubt that redshirt sophomore quarterback Isaiah Marshall will develop into a stellar player. There have been flashes in each of his first three games, but when going from a relatively steady Jalon Daniels in 2025 to a player who is registering the first meaningful snaps of his career, the drop-off has been a bit of a shock to the system so far.
That being said, the most important thing for Marshall to show is continued improvement from week to week, and so far that is what Marshall is largely doing.
Below will be Marshall’s stats over his first three career starts
LIU 51-6 W 14/19 246 yards, 2 touchdowns, 49 rushing yards
Missouri 38-21 L 13/30 168 yards 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 23 rushing yards
Arizona State 24-17 L, 17/33, 235 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 52 rushing yards
Marshall ranked as a bottom-10 power-conference quarterback
In Bill Connelly’s latest article ranking every 68 power-conference quarterback Marshall was ranked No. 62, ahead of just Billy Edwards Jr. (UNC), Dylan Lonergan (Rutgers), KJ Jackson (Arkansas), Tait Reynolds (Clemson), Mason McKenzie (Boston College) and Steve Angeli (Syracuse).
“You'll rarely find a guy who wants to make plays more than Marshall, for better, worse or sometimes both. But the mundane plays are tripping him up -- against Missouri and Arizona State he completed just 48% of his passes, and KU scored only 24 combined offensive points.”
In all honesty Marshall’s ranking in this list is probably pretty fair, while its uncomfortable to have a QB this far down a list like this, you have to gauge what the expectation was for Marshall this season.
The trademark of a strong Andy Kotelnicki offense is an elite rushing attack, and whether by injury or performance, KU hasn’t been able to kickstart that aspect of their offense this season.
Earlier this week, when speaking to the media, head coach Lance Leipold spoke about the improvements the staff saw from Marshall from Missouri to Arizona State.
“…I think he continues to make progress…You know, as much as you put on the quarterback, it's a lot, okay? And we took some things off his plate, and we did some things to help protect him a little bit better, than we probably did in the second game of the year. And I thought he handled those things well.”
Overall, Kansas’ offense has ranked No. 98 in yards per game, with 334 per outing. In terms of scoring, against FBS opposition, the Jayhawks rank No. 98 with 19 points per game.
Where can Marshall still improve? The easy and true answer to that is everywhere. The most complete part of Marshall’s game so far has been his deep passing, notching several 40+ yard to Nahzae Cox and Nik McMillan. His mid-level passing over the middle has been where he has looked the most inconsistent. Sometimes he will be able to zing a pass over a linebacker's head into a wideout’s stride, and other times he is overthrowing open passes.
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