Luke Grimm's 2022 Breakout Season - 90 Days Until Kansas Football

In a year full of star-making performances for the Jayhawks, Luke Grimm stood out among KU's best.

© Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The 2022 Kansas football season introduced the college football masses to a number of breakout Jayhawks stars.

Obviously, quarterback Jalon Daniels led that group. There’s no disputing that. Despite missing several weeks due to injury, he wowed the Big 12 enough to earn a second-team all-conference honor.

Daniels was great. The running game, led by Lawrence’s own Devin Neal, was one of the Big 12’s best. Plenty of pass catchers, including receivers and tight ends, made a significant impact. But through it all, one of the biggest success stories for Lance Leipold and Andy Kotelnicki’s offense was wide receiver Luke Grimm, who went from a bit player to a key contributor in one of the country’s most dynamic offenses.

Grimm's production in 2022 surpassed that of his first two seasons on campus combined. His team-high 52 receptions last season bested his 41 from his two previous campaigns, and he was second on the Jayhawks in receiving yards with 623. Grimm also hauled in six touchdown receptions, leading all KU wide receivers and tying tight end Mason Fairchild for the team high.

His true breakout performance came in the classic, albeit heartbreaking, loss to the TCU Horned Frogs when he snagged six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown.

As impressive as the raw numbers were for Grimm last season, arguably the two most important and impressive parts of his overall game were his reliability and penchant for showing up in big moments.

He was a model of consistency for a Jayhawks group that was notoriously inconsistent record wise throughout the year. In 12 games played last season, Grimm posted PFF grades over 70 six times and graded out above 60 (the average grade) 10 times. His season-long PFF receiving grade (80.0) was the third best among Big 12 wide receivers and ranked 12th among all players in the conference.

What’s more, 32 of Grimm’s 52 receptions either went for first downs or touchdowns. In other words, 61.5% of the time that he caught the ball, he either moved the chains or put points on the scoreboard.

As for his penchant for showing up in big games, three of Grimm's best performances also came in three of the Jayhawks' biggest games. That includes his aforementioned output in the TCU loss, seven receptions for 65 yards against the Oklahoma State Cowboys (in what was one of the most important wins for the program in 15 years) and a career day in the Liberty Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Grimm was the game's leading receiver, recording 10 catches for 167 yards and a score in a heroic albeit losing effort.

The play above shows Daniels hooking up with Grimm in a do-or-die moment against Arkansas. On third down and 15 yards to go with just 46 seconds left, the Jayhawks went to 11 personnel and got a favorable matchup for Grimm in the slot. He gets inside leverage on the defensive back, runs a crisp post and hauls in the touchdown strike.

Easy pitch and catch.

The wide receivers room was a legitimate point of contention for Kansas going into the 2022 season. By the midway point of the season, however, the entire group had become a strength for the Jayhawks. No one exemplified that growth better than Grimm.

He became the best and most trusted target for Daniels (and Bean) and showed marked improvement in his second season under the Leipold administration. As he heads into his fourth season with the program and third in this offense, there's no reason to believe his ascendance will slow down.

With another year of even linear growth, Grimm has legitimate All-Big 12 potential in 2023.

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