The Kansas Jayhawks are set to embark on their first season ranked in the preseason AP Poll since 2009, and as expected, head coach Lance Leipold “officially” announced Jalon Daniels as the starting quarterback on Tuesday.
Daniels has missed time each of the past two seasons with injuries, but appears healthy heading into the 2024 campaign. During a press conference on Tuesday, Leipold said, “I’ve seen a lot of good things from Jalon Daniels in the last 10 days. He’s confident, he’s excited…it’s good to see.”
Leipold has talked this offseason about making sure Daniels gets the reps he needs to be prepared for the season, while not overdoing it.
In 2022, Jalon Daniels missed four games with a shoulder injury. And then, during the 2023 season, Daniels dealt with a back injury that lingered throughout the season. He only played in three games last season, all in September against Illinois, Nevada and BYU, before being shut down with the back injury.
He finished the season with 705 passing yards, five touchdowns and one interception, while completing 74.7% of his passes.
Even without Daniels in 2023, KU turned to reliable back up Jason Bean, who helped KU have its best season in over a decade. The Jayhawks went 9-4 last season in 2023, which ended with a victory over UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, 49-36.
Kansas has been picked to make the College Football Playoff by some experts in what should be a wide-open year in the Big 12. Part of that is due to Kansas’ schedule. Kansas squares off against just one Preseason Top 25 team (No. 18 Kansas State), and will take on just three teams picked to finish in the top eight spots of league play in the Preseason Media Poll (Kansas State, Iowa State, West Virginia).
Kansas will take the field on Thursday, August 29th, to kick off their season against Lindenwood.
