Jared Casey has picked up a lot of the headlines this week. The fullback from Plainville, Kan. has been the most recognized face of the program after catching the two-point conversion that was the winning play against Texas.
Until this week Casey may have been a secret to KU football fans. But he is not to those in the program.
After the Texas game Jalon Daniels said Casey has some of the best hands on the team. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki backed that statement up.
“We do workouts and stuff, and you can't see kids throw footballs and stuff like that, but you can do hand, eye coordination drills with tennis balls,” Kotelnicki said. “And you could kind of tell he's a natural ball catcher. He's got unbelievable hands. He probably has the best hands on the team, actually.”
This is something Kotelnicki has seen week in and week out.
“I've been able to know that about him the whole time,” he said. “And then Jaylon Daniels had kind of alluded to it in some of the conversations he's had. You see him make catches great catches all week or all practice. A ball throwing his direction and him catching it was at least of my concerns.”
Joey Gilbertson played key snaps against Texas
The week has also brought a lot of attention to players from Kansas making plays for the Jayhawks. Devin Neal joined Casey this week picking up accolades earning the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.
But there was another Kansas native who quietly put together a good game and was a key on the offensive line.
Joey Gilbertson, from Wichita Northwest, played the last 35 snaps for the Jayhawks. The players and coaches told a story this week there was one play that stood out. Trevor Kardell leaped to catch a pass from Jalon Daniels and took a big hit that extended a drive.
The play might not have happened if Gilbertson did not slow down a Texas defensive lineman.
“At any point when you lose or win a game like that, one of those plays is the difference,” Kotelnicki said. “So, a credit to him and his effort. He plays so hard and that's what we want. For him to go in there, he knows what he's doing too. He's really smart. He plays a bunch of different positions and center and guard, and just him to go in there and get after it and have a play like that, you get pretty excited. I'm fired up for him.”
Kotelnicki described the play.
“The play that converted the third down everyone remembers Kardell,” Kotelnicki said. “Well, they had brought this pressure inside. They had this twist game that was really probably kind of hard to pick up. And Joey Gilbertson leaves the end to let it travel out to the tackle, late, and so there's this late twist that's occurring inside between the linebacker and the D-lineman.
“And Joey Gilbertson leaves his feet, dives with just great strain, and gets just a little shove on the backer, like hardly anything at all, but just enough to knock him off a quarter of a yard and Jalon Daniels escapes by the shoelace.”
The process will stay the same for the Jayhawks
The win gave the Jayhawks momentum after showing signs of progress during the first nine games. Now they have to get ready for the final two games against TCU and West Virginia.
Kotelnicki has seen the confidence the win gave the players, but they are still going through the same process and the plan in place.
“There's certainly been some energy that way and you hope confidence and of course you have to manage those things,” he said. “Like we said before, sometimes you got to learn how to win, you got to learn how to lose, and learn how to do both those things and respond correctly.
He continued: “And you've heard me say probably this is the fourth or fifth time I've said it, regardless if you win by a hundred, you lose by a hundred, what you do on Monday is the same. We tend to be very process oriented here. But it has brought some energy. It has brought some confidence. It has brought, as you all know, some national attention, which is good.”
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