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Editor's note: This is part of a series previewing each of the opponents on BYU's inaugural Big 12 schedule, beginning with the Cougars' Sept. 23 road opener at Kansas and leading up to defending champion Kansas State before fall camp opens in August. First up, the Jayhawks.
SALT LAKE CITY — No longer just a basketball school, Kansas was the talk of the Big 12 a year ago when its usually dormant football program produced one of the best offenses in the country en route to a 6-6 regular-season record and its first bowl bid since 2008.
Behind returning quarterback Jalon Daniels, the Jayhawks may just be getting started.
Kansas returns more than 90% of its offensive production in 2023, including Daniels, who completed 66% of his passes for 2,014 yards and 18 touchdowns with just four interceptions, and ran for 425 yards and seven scores — all while missing a month with a separated shoulder.
What's next for the superstar quarterback who showed up at Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, with a Cuban link chain featuring a small digital screen that played a two-minute long video clip of his season highlights?
"If it weren't for me making a few of these plays on here, I wouldn't be where I am today," Daniels said. "This is what I do; I like to play football, I like to play quarterback, I like to score touchdowns."
Drip level: elite 💧@JalonDaniels6 is wearing his highlights today pic.twitter.com/cygQnnzIwc
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) July 12, 2023
The Preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year who went 5-3 as a starter last year could be managing Heisman Trophy-level expectations, if he can stay healthy. And with that could come expectations the likes of which the Jayhawks — picked ninth in the Big 12 preseason media poll — haven't faced since Mark Mangino won the program's first (and only) Orange Bowl in 2007.
"You want expectations," Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. "This program hasn't had many expectations of late, so embracing those but keeping them in balance. But I think any program at any state, you have to focus on where you're at at the moment and making sure you don't get too far ahead of yourself, and no offense to anyone, we can't spend a lot of time reading all the positive things you're going to say because all of a sudden we're not staying focusing on what we need to at the moment to get better."
The Jayhawks return 16 starters from Leipold's second season, when the former Buffalo coach tripled Kansas' win total of his inaugural campaign in Lawrence, Kansas.
That includes Daniels, as well as running back Devin Neal, who ran for 1,090 yards and nine touchdowns; wide receiver Luke Grimm, who caught 52 passes for 623 yards and six touchdowns; and Lawrence Arnold, who added four scores.
The Jayhawks lost starting left tackle Earl Bostick Jr. to the NFL, but added former five-star recruit Logan Brown from Wisconsin to the remaining four returning starters.
"The thing I like about where we're at holistically as an offensive line is the amount of starts we have returning, the amount of depth that we have now with not just Logan, but Spencer Lovell is a transfer from Cal; Kobe Baynes joined us last August from Louisville," Leipold said. "So we have some movable parts better than we've had before that, not only just keeping Jalon healthy and adding depth that we have within the skill positions, I like our movable pieces that we're going to have a solid unit across the board."
