When you look at the preseason analysis from various outlets the one constant with Kansas is the high expectation on the offense.

Last year the Jayhawks had one of the best offenses in the Big 12 and return 10 starters.

Andy Kotelnicki calls his offense “multiple”, and he shows a lot of different looks out of several formations. There is a lot of creativity and that was on display last year. With a lot of the same players coming back does that allow him to get more creative?

“In theory, the more experience you have to come back, your offensive volume can increase,” Kotelnicki said. “So, when we define offensive volume as the plays, concepts, the things that you do, okay? In theory, that's what should happen. But you still have to be careful because it has to be sustainable.”

With a lot of returning experience, it allows Kotelnicki to expand the playbook. But there is a fine line to make sure the players on the two deep and young players understand the offense.

“You may say all these guys are coming back as starters, but if there's a big gap between them and the next person, then it's not as sustainable in case there's an injury or somebody's unavailable,” he said. “So, we do grow. We do need to get our best players better. We do need to not continue to do the same things. But it does allow us to add more tweak and evolve to what we feel like we need to do with our current personnel versus upcoming opponents.”

Devin Neal is the lead running back after turning in a 1000 yard season as a sophomore. Last year the offense was balanced when Neal had help from Daniel Hishaw.

After Hishaw had a season-ending injury Neal had to shoulder a lot of the carries. By the end of the regular season, he was worn down. A healthy running back room will help keep bodies fresh through the year.

Hishaw returned to fall camp after being limited in spring football. There are several players getting reps at running back.

“He’s been really good, running around today,” Kotelnicki said of Hishaw. “I'm happy with how that running back room is looking good between Daniel, Devin, of course Sevi, has done a great job. McDuffie was here obviously in the spring. And then Johnny (Thompson), in the room today. All five of those guys we have, I'm pleased. They're all getting a lot of reps.”

Kotelnicki coaches the tight ends where all the production returns and each player has a different skillset. He believes the running back group is diverse like the tight ends.

“Coach Wallace is doing a good job of rotating and kind of really training them specifically a lot of different ways to diversify themselves,” he said. “Much like the tight ends, there's some positional and some skillset diversity that you could use and move some pieces around quite a bit, which is fun.”

With Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean returning at quarterback, the real position battle may be for the third-string spot.

Redshirt sophomore Ben Easters has been in the program and will take a lot of reps behind Daniels and Neal. This summer Mikey Pauley and Cole Ballard joined the program.

Pauley was offered by Kotelnicki in high school when he played for Blue Valley Northwest. He led the Huskies to the 6A state title before enrolling at Nebraska to play football and baseball. Ballard was an all-state selection in Indiana and the son of Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard.

“Very similar to what I say about the other quarterbacks he is an athletic individual, throws the ball well,” Kotelnicki said about Pauley. “He still needs to continue to develop and grow. But excited about him, for sure. Him and Cole, both of those guys have come in the program have been really, really good and been pumped up about them. Athletic guys for sure and big dudes.”