Last season, the Jayhawks often failed in the clutch; their record in fourth quarters is evidence of it, but the problem was often beyond what happened in the final 15 minutes. At times it felt like KU was trying to make up for a missed opportunity earlier in the game, creating a brutal cycle where the offense constantly felt one drive behind,
Now, while several things created that lag, the two biggest often lay in Kansas’ third-down conversion percentages and red-zone scoring rate. Both of which were ranked towards the bottom of the FBS last season at 81st (38.13%) and 124th (71.79%), respectively.
Going about fixing these problems
The thing that makes a poor red-zone rate so hard to fix is that you can never truly replicate the scenarios in practice. It doesn’t help that this season, KU will likely have to use either redshirt sophomore Isaiah Marshall or redshirt junior Cole Ballard at quarterback.
This confluence of circumstances takes an extremely well-drilled coach to prepare for these situations, something that lacked under first-year offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski last season.
Now Zebrowski has been moved to the team’s passing game coordinator as former associate head coach and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has returned to the program to take an attempt to repair these paltry numbers.
When speaking with the media earlier this month, Zebrowski was asked what he is looking at between Marshall and Ballard, and if it was still the minute aspects of each player’s game.
“We talk a lot about decision making. Coach K [Kotelnicki] does a great job in practice by setting them up in positions- those third-down, red-zone, fourth-down, two-minute- and those are the kind of things you grade kids off of. To see which one comes out. It becomes a lot more decision-making, and critical decision-making in critical times.”
The 2023 season is easily regarded as the program’s best in the Lance Leipold era, with Kotelnicki taking charge of the offense during that season; their third-down conversion rate finished 12th-best in the nation at 47.76%, and while their red-zone rate was still 81st-best in the FBS, it still sits 10% higher than last season’s.
Expecting a big jump in these stats is a risky assumption
While Kotelnicki has proven he is one of the game’s best offensive minds, Kansas’ offense is nowhere near finished. Along with the quarterback room, KU is also set to revamp its offensive line, running back and wide receiver corps. At wideout and running back, things feel a little more secure, yet moving to the quarterback battle and an offensive line shaped via the NCAA Transfer Portal, one can understand where the confidence is shaken.
Regardless, the Jayhawks have little time to figure things out. Leipold is under a month away from his sixth season at KU, and the schedule is giving no room for early trial and error. Two of Kansas’ first four games are against power-conference competition in Arizona State and Missouri.
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