Every coach wants competition in each room.
However, with under a month left before the start of the season, more often than not, the natural starters tend to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. For Kansas’ quarterback room, however, things aren’t quite that clear.
You see, the Jayhawks have officially ended the Jalon Daniels era and are now dealing with the likes of either redshirt junior Cole Ballard or redshirt sophomore Isaiah Marshall. Neither quarterback is taking over with much experience, and neither has particularly asserted themselves as the team’s starter come LIU on September 4th.
However, while for many competitions across the country, this can mean that Ballard and Marshall aren’t necessarily the best of friends thanks to the gravity of the situation, when speaking to the media earlier this month, passing game coordinator Jim Zebrowski spoke on the great relationship Ballard and Marshall have.
Kansas' two biggest quarterback compeitiors have developed a strong friendship
“I know they're different, obviously, a year apart, different places. Everyone gets to know each other. I don't know how tight everybody is all the time, but they're all friends, and they care about each other. And then this year is just kind of become, like, really tight, like, Cole might take Zeke [Isaiah] golfing and that kind of stuff. Those true friendship things, like, truly, and they really pull for each other,” opened Zebrowski to the media.
Ballard’s bringing 445 passing yards to go along with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and a 54.7% completion rate that includes a 45.5% rate last season. Ballard also adds 209 rushing yards, including 92 from the 2025 campaign.
Marshall’s first year on the field with the Jayhawks saw the former 3-star put together 160 rushing yards and 28 passing yards.
Zebrowski then mentioned a comparison between two former KU quarterbacks that could serve as a great template.
“I think what they had learned from, too, and seeing it, is how well Jason [Bean] and Jalon [Daniels] worked together. Like, you know, Jalon was just happy for Jason when he scored, and vice versa. I think they saw how it is. Yes, you're competing. Yes, you wanna play. Yes, you want that first snap. But you also want the team to be successful. So I really think that's how it's kind of progressed.”
Bean and Daniels meshed for one of college football’s best quarterback combos; the pair were together between 2021-23. Bean finished his career with KU, notching 4,662 yards, 38 passing touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Bean also accumulated 902 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns.
Daniels left the Jayhawks with 9,282 yards through the air, 67 touchdowns and 31 interceptions, with 1,445 yards to go on the ground and another 23 rushing touchdowns.
In the three seasons they were each at the program, Daniels finished with 422 attempts through the air and Bean with 517.
While Ballard and Marshall will be wanting to one-up each other when the time comes, if the pair can have their focus on creating the best team possible, then hopefully this tricky multi-quarterback situation can be ironed out.
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