Position Group Vote of Confidence - BWR Roundtable: 9 Days Until Kansas Football

It's our final roundtable of the preseason as we look at which position groups have our trust, and which ones need a bit a more work.

Fall Camp concluded today for the Kansas Jayhawks, as Lance Leipold spoke to the media to put a bow on the preseason program. We will definitely have some major takeaways in the next couple of days, but for today's entry in the countdown, we are throwing it back to the entire crew here at Blue Wings Rising one more time. With plenty of recent updates from a wide variety of position groups, it's time to look at which ones we are most optimistic about and which ones concern us the most.

Previous editions of the Roundtable have covered a variety of topics. Our first article talked about carrying lessons forward from 2022. Then we looked ahead to the upcoming schedule. We asked about the threshold of guaranteed success that would be needed to lock it in. We also highlighted some important questions surrounding the team heading into camp before looking at newest additions to the Big 12. And last time we each identified a player that we thought was going to have a breakout year. 

Which position group are you most confident in? Least confident in?

Derek Noll: I have the most confidence in the running backs, the backfield in general. When you combine Devin Neal’s ability along with Jalon Daniels’ escapability and ability to improvise, and a (finally, hopefully) healthy Daniel Hishaw, it gives the backfield a chance to be the best unit on a very good offense. With the preseason hype surrounding Neal, I think this is the group (quarterbacks aren’t really a group) to be most excited about as a Jayhawk fan.

I’m least confident in the defensive line. That group saw a lot of turnover and we’ll just have to wait and see how the new transfers and returners play against the up tempo offenses in the Big XII. That Illinois game in week two will also be a test, albeit one of different sort when the extremely physical Illini pound away at the Kansas line.

Kyle Davis: I think Derek’s right on both of these, but I’ll add others. If it’s not running back, I think it’s quarterback. Not only do you have a Heisman dark horse in Jalon Daniels, but Jason Bean is one of the most productive, competent backups in the league (who can also be used with Daniels on the field because of his speed). Remember the Oklahoma State game last year when Spencer Sanders was hurt and it was a huge drop off to the backups? We might see something similar to that this year since Hunter Dekkers of Iowa State can’t play. That massive drop off doesn’t exist for KU, and it’s a huge advantage.

Least confident has to be the defensive line because we just don’t know what it’s going to look like yet. Losing Lonnie Phelps, Caleb Sampson, Sam Burt, and company is a lot of snaps and production to replace.

Brendan Dzwierzynski: I think the guys are spot on with the running backs, and that should be one of the team’s best groups with how much talent is in that room. I’ll go somewhere else on the offense for my most confidence, though. In our last roundtable, I talked about wanting the offensive line to show a little more strength in the run game, and while that still rings true I love that group. There is so much depth and so much talent, whether they top out at “very good Big 12 player” or legitimate NFL prospect. Kansas could run out a ton of different combinations and groupings, and pretty much all of them would have me confident and content from this year.

I’m in agreement on the defensive line thoughts, but I’ll shrink it down a little bit and specifically address the defensive ends. Reports from camp have been pretty positive regarding the defensive tackles and I think there’s a lot of potential on the interior, especially if Colorado State transfer Devin Phillips is as good as advertised. On the contrary, I’m legitimately concerned about how the Jayhawks are going to affect quarterbacks coming off the edge without any reliable ends for now. Hopefully that changes and I do like the transfer class KU brought in, including Dylan Brooks from a long-term perspective, but that group just has too many question marks for me to feel comfortable at this juncture.

Andy Mitts: Let’s just continue our way around the offense, because I think the unit I’m most confident in is the tight end room. You have legitimate #1 tight end Mason Fairchild being backed up by two very good guys in Trevor Kardell and Jared Casey. Add in Tevita Noa as a good blocking option, and the Jayhawks can legitimately go four deep with a little bit of everything. Recent camp reports talked about the extra gains that the team has achieved in both overall strength and team speed, with Casey being called out specifically. He was an extremely versatile tight end last year with a nose for finding the right block to open up a running lane on the outside. If he’s even better this year, then Mason Fairchild won’t be the only tight end that people from outside the program will recognize.

I agree that the defensive line is troubling because of the uncertainty surrounding the new guys, but I also know that Lance Leipold and Jim Panagos did a very good job with a similar situation last year. And the big Achilles heel was the lack of big bruisers up front, which Kansas brought in through the portal this year. Instead, I’m worried about the linebackers. Specifically, the lack of proven depth combined with the extremely large workload that this defense puts on them is troubling. If Craig Young actually plays full time in the linebacker position instead of spending most of his time in the defensive secondary, then that helps with some of the concerns. But this scheme asks a lot of those linebackers, and they just didn’t have the horses to do it last year. Will this year be different?

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