LAWRENCE — When expectations aren’t met, it’s easy to point fingers. The Kansas football team, however, isn’t doing that.
Instead, the Jayhawks are relying on their veteran leaders like Devin Neal to get them through this two-game slide and back on the right track Saturday at West Virginia.
“It’s important for me to stay even keeled no matter what scenario is going on,” Neal said. “Because if they see me panic then it’s really easy for others to start panicking as well. So it’s been my focus to be that steady voice in the offense and be encouraging and motivating.
“But obviously what we’re doing isn’t enough. And I think we recognize that and we’re having the important talks that we need to have. And there’s more accountability going on and it’s really important for us to understand that we have to get back in synch. And if you watch the film, you see we’re not really in synch. And that falls on how we practice, and I think we have to practice harder, smarter.”
By all accounts, the Jayhawks players and coaches said Tuesday was perhaps their best practice of the year. Neal said the team has also been emphasizing finishing the second half of practice strong, as they struggled in the second half against Illinois and UNLV.
“It’s a lack of pushing through, tiredness,” Neal said. “We get sloppy. As you saw, we look really good in the first half, but in the second half we didn’t look good at all. So we have to find a balance between the two. And we have to practice harder with more intent and that starts with our leadership with guys like me, J.D. (Jalon Daniels), Luke Grimm. And we’ll keep chirping on the guys to focus on the details.”
The Jayhawks (1-2) are hoping to get Daniels’ confidence back, as he’s thrown six interceptions in three games. One possible remedy to that is having KU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes call plays up in the booth and have quarterback coach Jim Zebrowski on the sidelines with Daniels.
Grimes said the Jayhawks thought about making that switch prior to the UNLV game, and he added there’s a good chance they’ll do it against the Mountaineers (1-2). Two years ago when the Jayhawks played in Morgantown, they trailed 14-0 in the first quarter before rallying for a 55-42 win.
The victory sparked the Jayhawks to a 5-0 start, and Neal is hoping the start of Big 12 play can be a catalyst to a strong rest of the season.
“All of our goals are still in front of us,” Neal said. “And the Big 12 matters most. So we have to play up to that. These are great teams that we’re about to face, and we have to execute better.”
