The Big 12 Conference features some of the most unpredictable teams in all of college football this season, with a wide array of outcomes and possibilities for the 2024 season.
One such team, the Kansas Jayhawks, was recently listed as one of the nation’s most unpredictable teams by the Late Kick’s Josh Pate.
“I think Kansas is an unpredictable team because Jalon Daniels’ health is in question,” Pate said. “Now, if he shines, then Kansas is a Big 12 Championship contender, and they may be able to withstand a lower returning production rate. This time last year, Kansas was No. 1 in the country in returning production. They’re not this year. So if they don’t have that quarterback play, it could be a longer year than anticipated.”
While Jalon Daniels’ complex injury history has been a nagging problem for Lance Leipold’s squad over the past few seasons, the team had veteran signal-caller Jason Bean waiting in the wings for relief. With Bean graduating and going professional, the Jayhawks no longer have that luxury.
“If they do, healthy Jalon Daniels is the kind of guy who elevates names of guys that you don’t know yet,” Pate continued. “However, maybe Kansas can’t just reload. Maybe this is not a program like Georgia or Florida State, where you don’t know the names, but we just blindly count on them. Maybe the line of scrimmage does suffer. Maybe they feel the loss of Andy Kotelnicki, who is now at Penn State. You can’t just overlook that stuff for a major program, you especially can’t overlook that stuff at Kansas.”
Kansas was picked to finish fourth in the recent Big 12 Media Preseason Poll, trailing Utah, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State. With veteran playmakers on offense returning, Kansas enters the upcoming season as one of the league’s most deadly offenses. Defensively, however, the jury is still out.
“That’s no knock on them, it’s just historically Kansas Football. Sitting here at over-under 8.5 wins with those kinds of questions is probably the biggest testament to the quality of a head coach that you’ve ever seen. Lance Leipold, stud. Kansas, with questions and an over-under win total of eight and a half, is amazing.”
Kansas will have an opportunity to live up to their lofty preseason expectations when they kick off the upcoming season on Thursday, August 29th, against Lindenwood.
