Big 12 Snapshot: Kansas Jayhawks

Good morning. I’m introducing a new series intended to take a look at each team in the new Big 12. I’m not sure how many I’ll get done each week, but the only way for me to really know about these teams is to actually do the research so I can be relatively informed when the season hits. So I spent time doing the research this weekend. There are links to everything below so if there isn’t a link, then I didn’t write it, but I always link back to the originator of the content. I wanted to take a quick look at the team: get a feel for the best players; look into their portal class consisted and how they ranked overall; a look at the 2024 recruiting class; and ending on the graphic from Sharp College Football.

Snapshot: Maybe the biggest offseason news was that Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki moved on from Kansas to Penn State. He was good. Really good and I think a lot of the success of the Kansas offense was because of him. Granted, Jalon Daniels had a lot to do with that when he’s healthy. Replacing Kotelnicki is Jeff Grimes, who was previously at Baylor and was effectively let go with having terrific success at BYU before that. Defense needs improvement, but they have continuity at defensive coordinator as Brian Borland was at Buffalo with Lance Leipold for most of his career and is in his 3rd year at Kansas. Only 2 starters return at the offensive line, center and left tackle. RB Devin Neal returns and is terrific, 203 carries, 1,208 yards, 6.3 yards per attempt and 16 touchdowns. CB Cobee Bryant is good, had 4 picks alone last year as did his cornerback partner, Mello Dotson. The Jayhawks have a ton to replace as starters (see below).

Do the Jayhawks play Texas Tech? Nope.

Returning Starters: Offensive returning starters – 7 (62% of offensive production); Defensive returning starters – 6 (56% of defensive production).

Transfer Portal Arrivals: 8. The offensive line, with good reason, is the focus here as well as the defensive line. A pretty focused group of transfers and that’s a staff that’s pretty happy with the development of their players, but also makes clear what they are concerned about.
TE DeShawn Hanika (from Iowa State)
OL Darrell Simmons (from Iowa State)
OL Amir Herring (from Michigan)
OL Shane Bumgardner (from Tiffin)
DL Bai Jobe (from Michigan State)
DL Javier Derritt (from North Dakota State)
DL Dylan Wudke (from Youngstown State)
DB Devin Dye (from Utah State)

On3 Transfer Index Score: +7 (Big 12 high is +68 with Colorado and low is -30 with Houston)

Spring Portal Grades: Kansas: B+

Key additions: Bai Jobe, EDGE (Michigan State); Amir Herring, IOL (Kansas)

Key subtractions: None

Outlook: It wasn’t a busy spring in Lawrence, but Kansas managed to land a pair of four-star talents from the 2023 class without experiencing a key departure. Jobe is a former Rivals100 member who appeared in just one game during his freshman season at Michigan State last year. He signed with the Spartans as the No. 7 weakside defensive lineman in his class.

Pac 12 2024 Recruiting & Big 12 2024 Recruiting: No longer the Big 12 doormat, Kansas is coming off its first winning season since 2008 and this recruiting class could propel the Jayhawks even higher in the conference. Landing four-star defensive end Deshawn Warner is an absolute steal because he has the talent to play anywhere in the country.

Four-star linebacker Dakyus Brinkley and four-star DBs Austin Alexander and Jalen Todd are all playmakers. Could three-star quarterback Isaiah Marshall be the next Jalon Daniels?

Grade: B

Sharp College Football Beta Rank Deep Dive: Kansas was unbelievable on offense. Incredibly explosive and efficient, all largely without Jalon Daniels. An absolutely stellar rushing team and an excellent passing team to boot. You wonder how much the success was Kotelnicki and if Grimes can continue that success. Grimes didn’t have the same type of success he had at BYU while at Baylor, but maybe Leipold let’s him cook on his own. Defensively, they were top third in the nation, which is really pretty good all things considered. Better against the run than the pass, this is a solid group, but with just 6 defenders returning, not a ton of continuity from this year to last year.