🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Sounds like Les is super optimistic about this year's group. Not sure I agree with his optimism, but hey, I'll take it. Key takeaways:

• OL should be better than last year. Chris Hughes and Pooka echoed.

• Dearmon is making the offense look really good. Offense routinely beats the defense in scrimmage play. QB is still a big ¯_(ツ)_/¯. But look for a 50/50 R/P split. Les is taking hands off on offense. Dearmon wants to take a lot of deep shots. Love it.

• Defensive front is improved from last season. Denzel Feaster said the LB corps was really meshing well.

• 40 positive COVID tests (not 40 people testing positive. Large difference). Nobody currently infected as far as they know. They've flipped from nasal swabs to saliva tests, much to the players satisfaction. They had the guys bubbled at the Oread, but have since moved to their own housing.

• MacVittie realizes this is it for him and has an increased sense of urgency. Personal opinion: he's got the highest ceiling for us at QB this year. Definitely has the best physical tools in the room.

• Everyone is still taking 1st team reps at QB. I like they haven't narrowed the focus, especially given this year is a freebie for everyone eligibility-wise.

I'll take the optimistic approach over the Charlie Weis pile of crap approach any day.

Biggest thing for me at QB this year is to be Peyton Bender like and protect the football. Bender's ability to protect the football was the biggest reason KU was a handful of plays away from bowl eligibility in 2018.

@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Media Day!:

I'll take the optimistic approach over the Charlie Weis pile of crap approach any day.

Biggest thing for me at QB this year is to be Peyton Bender like and protect the football. Bender's ability to protect the football was the biggest reason KU was a handful of plays away from bowl eligibility in 2018.

Ditto last year. One play away from beating Coastal, WVU, and UT. I think the crazy outlier TO margin in 18 masked some things with that team. The peripherals were about the same as previous years plus 19 TO’s forced was a huge improvement, at least half a TO per game better than any Beaty team.

Having Dearmon for a full season should help too. One voice all year instead of Carter having 8 OC’s in 5 years (3 his senior year).

@FarmerJayhawk The TO margin was a huge factor in 2018 in KU being as close to a bowl game as they were. KU's offense and defense simply aren't good enough to give teams extra possessions and expect to win games when they are the least talented team in the conference. Since KU doesn't appear to have a game changer at QB, a game manager is needed to keep possession as much as possible.