Lance Leipold on the quarterbacks, leadership, special teams

The Jayhawks moved to Rock Chalk Park for the Spring Showcase on Friday night and ran about an hour’s worth of 11-on-11 plays for the crowd. Head coach Lance Leipold talked about the play of quarterbacks Isaiah Marshall and Jalon Daniels, some players who have emerged as leaders throughout the spring, and the kicking game and his overall thoughts from the scrimmage.

Jalon Daniels made an appearance and threw a deep ball connecting with Quentin Skinner. He did not take many reps, but looked good in the ones that he had.

“He had some reps yesterday, got him some more today,” Leipold said. “He's been throwing all spring, and for him to get out in front of people, I'm sure, I think, makes a lot of people have less speculation of things. He's thrown, throwing it deep, throwing it all over. He's got a great attitude, and it's great to see him and Quentin hook up again.”

The other quarterback who fans were eager to see was true freshman Isaiah Marshall. Marshall is fresh off of leading Southfield A&T High School to a state championship in Michigan and has gained high praise for his calm demeanor during his first semester as a Jayhawk.

“Isaiah, again, if you watch him, good or bad, he just, his body language doesn't change,” Leipold said.

Getting the extra semester in has been very beneficial for Marshall. As the rest of the team is learning under a new offensive coordinator, he got to start at the same time.

“We're a pretty wordy offense, and for him to be able to process, get it all out to everyone else, he’s still getting guys lined up and these are all bonus practices and days in the program for a guy who entered early,” Leipold said. “It's going to be great to see, you know, when we get back out here in August to watch how much more that pays off in his growth. But, yeah, he's everything we wanted him to be.”

A lot has been said over the spring about the step Cornell Wheeler has taken in the linebacker room, especially as Rich Miller is gone. Leipold talked about his leadership, but also mentioned defensive lineman Cole Petrus making strides in the leadership department as well.

“Cole Petrus, as a defensive end, is just a guy that has some of those natural leadership capabilities,” Leipold said.

While leadership is an important trait within Kansas football, Leipold stressed that being a follower can be just as useful.

“For us, sometimes the leadership is also maybe not the most vocal or whatever, but I think some of the guys that we maybe tried to force feed into leadership, we probably had more conversations about be the best you that you can be and then be the best follower that there is,” Leipold said.

The Kansas kickers were perfect on the night. While there were not any kicks over 40 yards or any rushers putting legit effort into blocking the kicks, it was still good to display a unit that struggled like it did in 2023.

Tabor Allen, Charlie Weinrich and Owen Piepergerdes were all on display.

“Charlie's done a really nice job here and it's pretty close in really percentages,” Leipold said. “Tabor Allen has been more consistent than he's ever been in the field goal area. And then Owen’s got the strongest leg of the group and, you know, he's found his rhythm a little bit better here in the last couple practices.”

The Kansas spring has not done the kicking unit any favors as they try to work their way through winds that can have a big impact on the position.

“I think in the last few practices and we've been outside on a more regular basis, I've seen us get a little more consistent,” Leipold said. “I don't know if you've noticed, but it's been a little windy around here, so that's challenging.”

The punters were also involved tonight as Damon Greaves displayed a couple of kicks without any defense against them as Trevor Wilson and Luke Grimm completed fair catches. During the 2023 season, Greaves never had a punt return yard against him, and Leipold hopes it stays that way.

“Our punting game still continues to get better,” Leipold said. “Last year, knock on wood, I don't think we had a punt return last year on us.”

Leipold wanted the night to be clean and for the most part it was. There were two turnovers, in which were “two too many,” but he did not want to take credit away from the defense for that. Jalen Dye stripped the ball away from a receiver on a play that would have been a touchdown for him in a live setting.

“All in all, heck of a play by Jalen Dye, you know, stripped the ball,” Leipold said. “I thought we were cleaner, a lot cleaner than we were last week, and I thought that part of the execution was good.”

Leipold knows that there is still a long way to go toward being as clean as they want to be, but they are also working in lot of different players at a lot of different spots.

“All in all, you know, we're playing a lot of people,” Leipold said. "So, some of the fluidness of what you want it to be doesn't always end up to be as clean as you want, but as you see, we're still motioning and shifting and doing a lot and putting a lot on everybody.”