LAWRENCE — As the losses mounted, some Kansas fans wanted to bench quarterback Jalon Daniels. The KU coaching staff, however, balked at that notion, believing Daniels would eventually turn things around.
Now, as the Jayhawks gear up for Saturday’s Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State, Daniels is playing his best ball of the season. And that has the KU coaches excited for the last five games of the regular season.
“He’s at a pretty good spot,” KU coach Lance Leipold said. “I think we are starting to see the Jalon Daniels of old. He’s making plays for us with his arm and feet.”
Last week against Houston, Daniels had his best game of the season, completing 16 of 21 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns passing and one rushing. Daniels also took care of the football, marking the second straight game he didn’t have a turnover.
Through KU’s first five games, Daniels had 10 turnovers. But in the last two games he’s had five touchdown passes with no picks and rushed for two touchdowns.
“I think Jalon has felt more comfortable in what he’s been doing,” Leipold said. “I’ve had talks with him about what he’s comfortable throwing. He’s very comfortable with what’s in the gameplan. He has input on things that he likes and doesn’t like. I feel he’s gotten himself into better rhythm for a guy who didn’t take any reps last spring.
“Some of the 11-on-11 stuff, we probably thought he was further along in knocking off the rust than he probably truly was.”
For the season, Daniels is completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,312 yards and 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions, while on the ground he’s rushed for 181 yards and four scores.
But perhaps even more encouraging is that all his receivers finally seem to be in rhythm with him. For most of the season, Luke Grimm had been Daniels’ top target, but last week Lawrence Arnold had four catches for 80 yards, and Quentin Skinner had six catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns against Arizona State.
KU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes said Daniels’ deserves credit for his turnaround but noted it has been a collective effort as well.
“I think most of it is the work that he’s put in, and the work our receivers have put in,” Grimes said. “I think that’s most of it. I would like to say that the decisions we’ve made as coaches to try to lean into his strengths and our other players’ strengths helped as well. But I really got to give J.D. and the receivers have worked really hard to get right with him and get in synch more so the credit for it.”
