KU football coach Lance Leipold says Jalon Daniels will start opener
Check out what Kansas football head coach Lance Leipold had to say Tuesday as the Jayhawks continued to make their way toward their season opener.
LAWRENCE — Jalon Daniels has been positioning himself to start in Kansas football’s 2024 opener across the length of the offseason.
Daniels, a redshirt junior quarterback, continued to work his way back from the back injury that cut his 2023 season short. Head coach Lance Leipold and the coaching staff continued to ease him into things across the spring, summer and fall. The excitement around what’s possible for the Jayhawks this year has been evident throughout fall camp.
But Tuesday provided another opportunity to be reminded that Daniels has been able to take all the necessary steps. As Leipold talked about his signal-caller, he reiterated Daniels will start for Kansas when it opens its season on Aug. 29 against Lindenwood. After only playing in three games last year, Daniels will finally be under center again.
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“I’ve seen a lot of good things from Jalon Daniels in the last 10 days, and he hasn’t missed anything,” Leipold said. “He’s played well and he’s confident and he’s excited. His enthusiasm is contagious. And we all know that’s important for him to stay healthy, but it’s good to see.”
Daniels will have a myriad of weapons at his disposal when he enters the game for the first time. At running back, for example, there’s the duo of senior Devin Neal and redshirt junior Daniel Hishaw Jr. At wide receiver, to name another group, there’s the senior trio of Luke Grimm, Lawrence Arnold and Quentin Skinner.
Considering Arnold missed most of the spring due to injury, Leipold said that a handful of days ago was the first practice since last season that Daniels and those three wide receivers were all practicing fully together. Assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes said it was fun to see that, and how their chemistry translates to the field. It’s another chance to see how explosive the offense can be.
Neal can’t remember which practice during fall camp he thought this, but did think there was one where it all seemed to click for Daniels. Considering Daniels hadn’t done much 11-on-11 work coming into fall camp, Neal could see Daniels trying to work on the timing again. Then came this certain practice, and throw after throw that would catch Neal’s eyes.
“That was really cool for me to see,” Neal said, “just the smile, the charisma, everything just start coming back, the entire offense connecting.”
A return to the field won’t erase how frustrating the recovery process was for Daniels at times, or the feeling Daniels had when he saw people outside the program doubt him publicly. But he kept assuring himself he was doing everything he could. He feels more than blessed to be in the position he is.
Time will tell how close Kansas comes to reaching that goal of winning a Big 12 Conference championship. It’s one of the teams that should at least be in contention. But on Aug. 29, there’ll be another chance to drive up the level of enthusiasm for what’s possible.
“I had all the faith in the world that I’d be able to come back from my injury,” Daniels said. “It definitely took a lot of time, the process wasn’t the easiest process at the beginning, but once you start to realize that you’re finally getting to the top of that hill, of the uphill battle, then it makes you feel very confident in being able to trust the rest of the process.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
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Publish date : 2024-08-20 22:05:00
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