Kansas’ new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes has watched his team in action for spring practice this week and likes what he has seen. He discussed some different looks we might see with the offense, his approach to coaching experienced players at Kansas, and his emphasis on pace and effort during spring ball.

Outside of a play where Dominick Puni moved to center to help Cole Ballard pick up a first down on a quarterback sneak, the Jayhawks were in the shotgun in 2023. Under Grimes, Kansas fans can expect to see the Jayhawks line up under center.

“Yeah, we'll do some stuff under center,” Grimes said. “How much we do under center kind of just depends on the personnel of the team. Sometimes I've done it a little bit more than at other times.”

Grimes mentioned that for some offenses he worked with liked going under center than others. All in all, he will do what works best for the team.

“When I was at BYU, early first starting quarterback I had, we did quite a bit of it,” Grimes said. “When Zach Wilson became our quarterback. We still did some, but we did less of it. And I think, like a lot of things, it's a piece of what we do, but just another piece.”

Grimes is inheriting an offense that returns a 1,000 yard rusher, a quarterback who was the Preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year before going down with an injury and the top three receivers.

The question for Grimes is how does he approach coming into an offense with as many proven pieces as the Jayhawks have? Grimes said that the development of the players underneath them are a place where he can have a lot of impact.

“Well, when you have such an experienced team coming back, I think you can look on film and see what a lot of those guys have already done,” Grimes said. “And so I think the next piece for me is, who are the next guys? Who are the guys underneath them that would need to be developed?”

The pieces that Kansas did lose are hard to replace. Mike Novitsky and Puni on the offensive line might be the biggest of the bunch on offense. Grimes recognizes this and is keeping an open mind as he reconstructs the offensive line. But finding a replacement at the tight end spot is also at the top of his mind despite picking up DeShawn Hanika in the transfer and returning Jared Casey and Trevor Kardell.

“I was talking about with the tight ends earlier, who's going to step into that void that Mason (Fairchild) left?” Grimes said.

There are a lot of parts of spring football that are minimalized or non-existent on the contact front. What Grimes does want to see look the same as if it were fall camp is the pace at which they move.

“First thing that we've been talking about was just playing fast,” Grimes said. “You can't emphasize the physical piece of the game too much without pads on, but our play speed is something that we'd like to always show up when we watch film. Whether it's offensive line running off the football, playing with the mindset that sets the stage for the rest of our guys, or a receiver running a route, or a quarterback carrying out a fake. That play speed is something we've been emphasizing a lot.”

With the speed of play being such an emphasis, there is little room for hesitation as the Jayhawks learn his system. He does not want his players playing timid.

“The other thing I've started talking about, and it was really my point with the unit meeting today, was to play fearless and just go out there and be willing to throw the ball deep and go make a play on the ball when it's your opportunity,” Grimes said.

There can be a lot of pressure on college football players on the practice field as they fight for starting positions or just to see their name on the two-deep, but Grimes is searching for effort over everything else at this stage.

“I can be kind of demanding, but at the same time, I want them to recognize that if they're playing hard, then my job as a coach is to help them get better,” Grimes said. “And I don't want them to feel like if they make a mistake or they drop a pass that they're going to lose their opportunities.”