The Jayhawks haled their first scrimmage of fall camp and Lance Leipold saw a lot of good things from his team after Wednesday's night.
Leipold gave his thoughts on the scrimmage and talked about different areas of the team. Here are several of his answers after the scrimmage.
Opening statement on the scrimmage:
As most scrimmages, especially early, I think, you know, defense was definitely head of the offense. I really like the way the defense flying around played. A lot of great energy. Their physical offense, I thought even if the ball carrier was called down, we put the ball on the ground too many times. But that said, you know, there's a lot of good things, too that we had in our run game.
I thought the first units, you know, both running backs had opportunities and did some good things. Devin (Neal) didn't have live snaps today. Jalon took everything he was scheduled to do. It's good to get him in 11-on-11 and blitzing situations, all of that. Lawrence Arnold got tackled for the first time really since last season, since he got hurt last spring.
Keaton Kubecka was out there. I was really happy. I think Trevor Wilson's put together some good days.
Defensively Dean Miller I thought showed up. DJ Warner, I thought had a few plays. Tommy Dunn was very active. Again, I thought the linebacker crew showed up. Logan Brantley runs sideline to sideline, plays hard. So a lot of good things.
How much can Jalon Davniels benefit from getting live action like this, just considering the amount of football he's played in the last two years:
Well, that's a balancing act right now for us. We’ve got to get him back in sync and do it. But, you know, he's, like I've said, to get all the bodies around him and getting used to that and those things, but again, it needs to be good load management. I think we're in the NBA or something like that. I think we might borrow it or something for this year.
What can Trevor Wilson give you:
Well, again, Trevor's one of the fastest guys on this team. He's a veteran in many ways. Obviously, you know, what he's done in the return game for us. He's not the tallest, but he's a really good threat on the outside as well as on the inside. And that gives us some other vertical stretches. We can run reverses with him and stuff, but a lot of things, you know, and he and Tory Locklin don't get mentioned nearly enough, but they're very consistent and again, will be used often. And I thought Keaton Kubecka he's been a little slowed by a hamstring and I thought he had a couple catches and so again, the depth of that position will continue to get better.
Did you get a look at any of the place kickers tonight:
Yeah, we kicked a couple field goals. I think we kicked four of them. Charlie was 1-for-2. I couldn't tell if he made that last one. I don't think he did. Owen had one there. Tabor had one, as well, so continued to be. I like the competition, and sometimes I could say, if you're rotating, I think we have three. I really do. And so it'll continue to shape up.
Did anybody stand out at linebacker:
JB's continued to play really well. You know, I thought Cornell might have played some of his best. Again, like I said, Logan Brantley, you know, and those are probably the ones a little bit I don't want to take away, because I saw Taiwan early in the practice, as well. I like their confidence now, and, you know, we continue to look for that leadership with that. We lost from Rich, and Rich was kind of the guy that always made it right and could get the call. He was really good at making the gaps sound and things like that. So those other guys continue to get that confidence of being the leader on the field as well, and I think they've done a fine job.
Who stood out of the guys that you picked up out of the portal this offseason:
Javier, you know, continues to work. He'll rotate in there. He gives us some quickness in the interior line. Amir's going to help this team in his time. When that'll happen, I'm not sure, but he's a thick body inside guy. Last week, we kind of emergency put him in that center. We're playing him center and guard. Bryce (foster) continues to play well. Shane Baumgartner is a guy and it's going to be a good battle. I see both of them can play there. Bryce can play guard as well. I think Darrell Simmons has played really well for us. He's gotten in better shape, he's stronger.
You know, he's kind of injured his wrist last spring. So all those guys, I think they're all going to help. Dylan Wudke’s a guy showed who up tonight. You know, he's going to play the run really well for us. Kind of a guy that will rotate with Jeremy.
How do you feel about the team overall at this point:
I like where we're at. I always say from my chair, it's like, okay, if you're good in one area, you start worrying about the other side. I think there's been flashes on days and segments by each side of the ball and we got a lot of work to do yet and that's. And that's exciting. I like the attitude of the team. They embrace being coached and they want to get better, and they know that to do some of the things they want to try to get done this year. We’ve got to stay after it.
How about the backup QB battle between Cole and Isaiah:
Yeah, you know, again, they're both playing well again. The early enrollment of Isaiah Marshall has definitely helped. But Cole again, he continues to work on the areas where he's been. He's got a lot of command. I've said it all along, I like the depth of our quarterback position.
