LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels said he would be ready to play a game now. Coach Lance Leipold and the Jayhawks just need him to be ready for the season.
Daniels missed most of last season because of a back injury, playing in only three games before the end of September.
“I try not to ask Jalon Daniels more than once a week how is he doing because I know everybody asks him that,” Leipold said Wednesday during Big 12 media days. “He wouldn’t be here today if we didn’t think he was going to be ready to go for this season. I can tell you that.”
The Jayhawks were picked fourth in the Big 12 preseason media poll, much of that certainly based on the expectation of Daniels being healthy. They open the season Aug. 29 at home against FCS team Lindenwood.
Daniels threw for 2,014 yards with 18 touchdowns and ran for another seven scores in 2022, but was limited to 705 yards and five TDs passing with none on the ground last season.
“I’m excited to see what Jalon will do this season for us,” Leipold said. “He’s doing everything that doctors, trainers, strength coaches are having him do, and I can’t wait to get to August.”
Mountaineers finish better
West Virginia coach Neal Brown and his team remembers being picked last year to finish at the bottom of what was then a 14-team league.
The Mountaineers instead went 9-4 overall, with a 6-3 record in the Big 12.
“There’s no question we rallied around that. I stood up here a year ago, and we were picked 14th and I said we wouldn’t be there. And our team proved me right,” Brown said Wednesday. “And I said that a year ago because I knew what we had on both fronts.”
The coach believes people may be underestimating his team once again.
“Now it’s similar …. with a team that finished strong last year that returns a lot of production, that has one of the most dynamic players in all of college football in (quarterback) Garrett Greene,” Brown said. “I think there’s a similar dynamic that works with this team, too. And, more importantly, to me on a personal level, I believe some of our players are undervalued.”
Homecoming for Fritz
New Houston coach Willie Fritz is already getting requests for tickets when he gets to play a Big 12 game close to home.
The Cougars play Oct. 19 against Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. That stadium is less than 20 miles from Shawnee Mission, Kansas, where Fritz was born and attended high school.
“Well, it’ll be fun. I’ve had, I don’t know how many people … I just got back from Kansas City a few weeks ago, and I’ve had hundreds of requests for tickets when we go up there and play,” Fritz said. “I’m sure that’ll be a busy weekend for my wife doling out all the tickets.”
Fritz has been a head coach for 31 years, the last eight at Tulane, but now at 64 is coaching in a power conference for the first time. He replaced Dana Holgorsen, who was fired by Houston after a 4-8 record in the school’s inaugural Big 12 season.
“I went to Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, and they were also nicknamed the Cougars. I guess this was going to come to be one way or the other,” he said.
