The Jayhawks enter the bye week coming off a 1-5 start to the first half of the season. In the last two games they have been limited with injuries and the week off could help players return to action.
Against Arizona State injuries forced some new faces into action and head coach Lance Leipold said he liked the effort he saw from some of the young players. For some of the younger players who saw game action he hopes that will benefit them moving forward.
“I'm proud of the young guys,” Leipold said. “They got thrown in there, worked in some spots. But as always, nobody feels sorry for you. And it's part of football. We're playing some guys that didn't even travel to the last away game. But I think that'll pay off somewhere down the road for us.”
Wide receiver Quentin Skinner turned in a career night against the Sun Devils. He had six catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns, both career high numbers. He hopes the bye week can help the team get healthier.
“We had a couple guys go down on the field,” Skinner said. “And I feel like this bye week is definitely something that will be able to help us be able to come out for the next game. Be able to come out as healthy as possible. And I think this week would definitely help.”
The Jayhawks will play Houston at Arrowhead Stadium who also has a bye week. Houston is coming off a road win against TCU and will have the same advantage as Kansas to get healthy.
“Health is probably the biggest factor for our team,” Skinner said. “I know that's a cheesy answer, but that's probably what a lot of teams do around the country. We just need to notice what we're able to do and even amplify that even better, and then look at our negatives and make those even better of a thing looking into the future.”
While getting healthy is a focus, fixing some of the mistakes and working on the metal side is something they plan to improve on the extra week off.
“We play in roughly like thirteen days and I see it as an opportunity to just prepare more than ever for the next team,” defensive end Dean Miller said. “On top of that, getting our bodies, right. You know, we got some people who might be banged up. So, just recovering body wise, get your mental right and just get ready to go. Attack the next week for both.”
The team will practice three times this week and then coaches will go on the road recruiting. They will use Friday and Saturday for recruiting and Sunday will resume the normal game preparations for Houston.
“We've got a lot to work on in all three phases,” Leipold said. “Get a little healthier, get to reset a little bit and we will continue with our format of what we do at that time. We practice three times. Coaches will be out recruiting, and work with their young guys a little bit extra.
"But we will continue to do everything we can to prep for Houston to get ourselves on track. That's all really I can ask our guys. I said, this team is so close right now. We’ve got to continue to find all those little things and scenarios to get better at and every single thing.”
