Kansas enters Saturday’s home finale against Texas with a blurry quarterback scenario, one year separated from the KU program's first-ever win over the Longhorns in Austin that featured a similar QB debate leading up to kickoff.
Jason Bean took a shot to his midsection late in last week’s 43-28 loss to Texas Tech on the road, prompting the first snaps taken by true freshman Ethan Vasko at quarterback. Vasko finished the game by completing 3 of 5 passes for 22 yards - a short glimpse of the Chesapeake, Virginia product's potential.
Kansas coach Lance Leipold said on Wednesday, during his weekly Hawk Talk radio special, that any of the three - Bean, Vasko, or Jalon Daniels - could start on Saturday vs. the Longhorns. Leipold had previously noted that Daniels’ recovery was coming along and that he was “really close.”
Excited about Vasko’s debut late vs. the Red Raiders, Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said there’s a lot to like about the backup QB.
“You see the moxie that we've talked about all along,” Kotelnicki said. “You use that word, it's so subjective,” he added. “It's hard to sit there and say what exactly does that mean? But he's got confidence, he's got bravado. He goes out there in the fourth quarter of a game, and he got a chance to go down and get back into the game. He doesn't blink. He doesn't wince.”
Since Week 5, Kansas has placed the offense in the hands of Bean. Since Week 7 at Oklahoma, the Jayhawks have averaged 449 yards of offense per game behind the redshirt senior, with 554 yards posted in a 37-16 win over No. 18 Oklahoma State earlier in the month.
Kotelnicki is a firm believer in his playbook’s versatility. He said on Tuesday that whoever gets the nod should be able to run the offense effectively.
“I think with how we practice, and how we do things, and the reps that we get, and to prepare for those things, that our guys understand, whoever the 11 guys are on the field doesn't really matter,” Kotelnicki said. “The expectations are the expectations, and the standards are the standards. We can uphold those standards because of how we've practiced.”
But the KU offense hasn’t been without its miscues. Kansas stacked up 10 penalties for 75 yards last week vs. the Red Raiders. Regardless of who the Jayhawks start at QB, Kotelnicki knows those little mistakes need to change.
“It’s usually just a series of little things,” Kotelnicki said. “He was in the huddle late and he heard it wrong, whatever it might be. You're not making excuses. Again, going back to our players and myself, when you ask them, they're the first ones to be accountable for a mistake that's made.”
Kansas ate up 28 minutes of the clock at Texas Tech, averaging 8.1 yards per play by the end of the night. Two missed field goal try(s) and a late fumble by Bean cost KU valuable points throughout the contest in Lubbock - points that might’ve made for a very different fourth-quarter outcome.
Nevertheless, Kotelnicki has watched the offense evolve since his arrival last spring and said there are still some growing pains to navigate when it comes to taking advantage of the long drives Kansas sustains.“You can see that there are still moments where bad football shows up, and it's causing us to stall out on drives or costing us games, candidly,” Kotelnicki said.
“It's hard to go on those long drives and not have something that happens where it's going to set you back and put you behind the sticks like it did a couple of times last week,” he added. “We need to make sure that we're paying attention to detail, we're focused for those extended drives so that we can finish them.”
