Kansas’ offense has been under scrutiny in the Jayhawks’ recent two-game skid, averaging 18.5 points per game against FBS opponents. Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes met with the media Tuesday, saying he may go to the booth and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski may move to the sideline.
Grimes also talked about the consistency he wants to see from the offense throughout practice and games, how he can improve, and what he’s seen from West Virginia.
Grimes on switching places with Zebrowski: ‘better chance that we do that than not’
Before Grimes took the job as offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki would be in the box and Zebrowski would be on the sideline. When Grimes arrived, he originally wanted to coach from the sideline, saying he valued the personal relationship with his players.
However, the current combination clearly hasn’t been working. Therefore, a change has been discussed. Grimes said a final decision hasn’t been made, but there may be advantages to having Zebrowski back on the sideline.
“We've talked about it a number of times, just because that can go either direction,” Grimes said. “I'm comfortable either place. Z is comfortable either place. But in giving me the ability to get upstairs and get in a more sterile environment and see it a little bit better, and then, you know, probably more than anything, giving Z the opportunity to be with Jalon on the sidelines, as he's the one who's with him every day, certainly more than I am, I would say there's a better chance that we do that than not.”
Grimes said the change was discussed prior to the UNLV game.
Disconnect between practice and game consistency
Kansas has had a couple of unfortunate two-minute drills to open the season. In both scenarios before the half, Jalon Daniels threw an interception that led to an opposing touchdown. Kansas also failed to execute a scoring drive at the end of each of its losses, which would have won the Jayhawks the game. Grimes said there’s been a disconnect from the practice scenarios to the game.
“We've practiced it a good bit, and honestly, this fall camp, and even when we've practiced it this season, we've been as good as I've been anywhere. But that's kind of been the case with a lot of things,” Grimes said. “We've been really good at a number of things in practice that we've not necessarily been as good at in games.
"And so I think you could sort of say that's a microcosm of where we're at on offense right now. We're doing a lot of things really good in practice, some things good in games, but a lot of things in games are showing up that are different than, I think, what we anticipated based on what we saw in practice.”
Grimes said Kansas scored on four of its five drives that didn’t include a turnover or a major penalty. If the Jayhawks cut the miscues down, they could be in a much better spot.
“In a nutshell, I think that there are a lot of other things that we can improve on, starting with me, but if we just, if we just fix that or even cut those things down drastically, then we're in a different spot right now,” Grimes said.
Grimes needs to put players in position to succeed
The new offensive coordinator addressed that there are areas that he can improve on as a coach.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just trying to put our players in the right place,” Grimes said. “And I told the guys this after the game, I just said, you know, it's my job to prepare us to play and to put every player in the best position possible to have success. And I said I didn't do that well enough, and so it's on me. And so we've really tried to dig even deeper into that this weekend and yesterday, putting together this game plan by trying to put every guy in position where he can do the things that he does best.”
Grimes also said it’s important to find a way for Daniels to become more comfortable. He’s talked with Lance Leipold, Zebrowski, and Daniels about what will work for the collective group.
“Anytime something isn't working or working as well as you'd like for it to, then you got to address it at a deeper level,” Grimes said. “And so I think it's just being totally honest, both of us being totally honest about what we're comfortable with and just continuing those conversations more and more and digging a little bit deeper into them.”
West Virginia aggressive up front, play multiple coverages
Grimes said the Mountaineers mirror their head coach Neal Brown. He said Brown is tough and does things the right way.
“They play tough, they play physical, they're sound on both sides of the ball, respect what they do on offense as well on defense, very aggressive style from their front, an attacking style, Grimes said. “Guys blitz and they're trying to hit that gap 100 mph and run through your face. Guys up front on the move, big guys that can all move on the line of scrimmage. And then multiple coverage system, mainly zone, but different types of zone in the back end and they do a good job.”
West Virginia has had its struggles in pass defense, with opponents averaging 280 yards per game through the air. In the loss against Pittsburgh last week, the Panthers quarterback Eli Holstein threw for 301 yards and added 59 on the ground. Grimes said he hopes Daniels can give the Mountaineers similar issues.
