2017 Jayhawk Football
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I know our basketball team is dominating all thoughts on and unfortunately off the court, but let’s talk up 2017 Jayhawk football and get ready for the Spring game in two months.
Wow, Coach Beaty and staff have really jump started our program. This new group of Jayhawks is going to be fun to watch. The story of our 2017 campaign will be how well do QB’s Peyton Bender and Carter Stanley operate the 2017 offense under new OC Doug Meacham? We have many exciting options at running back, but will they fit in with the Air Raid offense Coach Beaty desires to run. Tons of talent at the wides, but do we have a QB who can get the ball to them?
Even though we lost very talented defensive backs to graduation, I’m excited to see Sophomore Mike Lee and the new guys, Hasan Defense, Antonio Cole and Robert Topps continue what Coach Bowen has been building. Our defense was pretty good last year (9th in scoring defense at 37.3) and kept us in most games. If it holds steady and the offense finally produces more than 20.2 points a game (last in the Big 12), we will start winning Big 12 games.
I can’t wait to see how Liam Jones does on field goals and extra points. Matthew Wyman was steady last year with 13/19 field goals (tied for 5th in Big 12) and perfect on extra points, but he missed a couple of FG’s that could have won us two more games.
Who else are fellow posters excited to see take the field in 2017? Rock Chalk Baby
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@stoptheflop I’m stoked as well. I just wish we could schedule Texas about 8 times this year.
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I’m excited about the depth that Beaty has brought in. Beaty and his staff have really been rowing upstream without much help since the program was left with not even 60 scholarship players when he took over. That’s fewer than a D2 school is allowed, and nowhere near what a Power 5 school needs to even hope to compete.
This is a big year. Progress has been shown both on the field and in recruiting, but now that needs to translate into some actual wins. I am hoping for three or four victories this fall, with the hope of competing for a bowl game in 2018. It takes a lot to turn a program around from where Weis left it, but Beaty is taking the right approach, which will hopefully pay off in 2018 and beyond.
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Is Peyton Bender enrolled for the spring semester at KU? It would really help to have him participate in the spring game. I’m as excited for our spring game as I am for the Monday night basketball game in Manhattan. That is going to be a rumble.
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3-4 wins next year and I’m confident about Beaty going forward.
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@BShark Let’s look at next year’s schedule and figure out wins and losses, shall we?
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Non-con games are SEMO (better be a win), CMU and at Ohio. Splitting those two would be ideal then find a couple conference wins out of the likes of ISU and such.
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Benton Smith’s article featuring Peyton Bender on the KUSports website implies Peyton is already enrolled at KU and will practice this spring. Having Bender and Carter practicing all spring means they will start fall camp fully prepared to lead the offense to more success this season. Tyriek Starks is also a possibility to lead the offense. There are just so many unanswered questions about the direction of the Jayhawk offense in 2017: What style of offense will OC Meacham install? Will Coach Beaty give full control to Meacham? Which QB will emerge as our best option and will it be a huge improvement to the rotation of Cozart and Willis last year?
I have more questions about our offense in 2017 than I did last year. But, changes in coaches and personnel on offense at least gives us a decent chance to make a big improvement over last year and keeps me optimistic for this year.
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It will probably surprise everyone, but I’m not familiar with Central Michigan football. So, I looked at their record last year. They beat Oklahoma State in Stillwater, 30 to 27. They also beat Ohio, who beat us in Lawrence 37-21. Central Michigan had a record of 6 wins and 7 losses and lost to Tulsa in the Miami Beach Bowl game played on Dec 19. It was only the 3rd year for that bowl, but C Mich got to practice and play 3 weeks longer than we did last year.
So after playing SE Missouri, we have two very competitive games against Central Mich and Ohio. I thought our defense played poorly against Ohio last year after the easy win over Rhode Island. By the Tex Tech game, our defense was playing well. If we had played Ohio in late October, I think we would have beaten them. It will be very interesting to see how we do in the nonconference part of our 2017 schedule.
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@stoptheflop CMU won at OSU because of the refs. The blew a call that gave CMU a play they shouldn’t have had and CMU won because of that.
With the game in Lawrence, KU will have a shot because I think this is the year we see the offense take a step forward.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I had forgotten about that call. Do you have a prediction on our starting QB and the style of offense Meacham will install?
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@stoptheflop KU is still running the Air Raid. That’s what Meacham brought to TCU and he’ll run it here. The terminology of the offense might be slightly different, but the learning curve will be minimal for the offense because it’s the same concepts they’ll be using for the 3rd spring in a row. If Bender wins the QB job for KU, I think KU probably wins 4-5 games next year with the offensive weapons at Bender’s disposal. Sims, Quiv, and Charlot will be in the discussion for best WR trio in the league. Hopefully Meacham utilizes Ben Johnson and the other TE’s as the 4th receiver to create match up issues galore for defenses. Sims and Quiv are both home run hitters and Charlot and a TE can create underneath issues for defenses. I’m not calling for KU’s offense to be elite in 2017, but I do think this is the year we see the offense take a big step forward and KU reenters the world of no longer being an assumed automatic win for everyone.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I sure hope so; I’m tired of being everyone’s homecoming opponent. Is Bender already on campus? Working out with the team this spring should give us a jump start on fall practices.
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Is this the year that KU will finally beats K State? We still lead the series 65-44-5 ties, but haven’t beaten them since 2008, which followed our wins in 2006 and 2007. For those of us in Kansas, this is still the important football series. Overall, we have better athletes but Snyder’s system keeps producing W’s for KState. In 2017, the QB operating the air raid offense will determine our success. I’m no longer satisfied with close losses and areas of improvement. Let’s get some wins fellas. RCJH
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Really looking forward to this year. Our program as we all are very aware was son down. Unbelievably down, That’s what happens when you have a Coach ( Weis ) that is in it just for some pocket change for him. With that said, we are for sure on the upward trend. Coach’s 1st yr - -yes zero wins, hard year, this last year we get two, Now is steadily getting HIS recruits, I think this defense can be pretty salty. Actually I’m not overly concerned about the offense, the big key with that is - -if we can just have our O-LINE give a little better protection then with the receivers we have, and our QB’S whoever that might be, & the running backs I think we will see actually quite a bit of improvement…
The individuals I want to watch this year I mean I want to watch their continues growth is our man D. Armstrong, - -and then I want to watch I think if I remember right Moseby our D-Lineman - - and our young stud Lee, man can that kid HIT , he put some hurting on some guys more then once last year, and then I want to watch there is a another kid that I believe that’s going to be special, and he played last year I want to watch he continue to develop and that’s Bean -really like him, I’m stoked and then if we hang on to these 2018 recruits.then look back cause we are about to jump on a run away train. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Three wins should be the goal this year, four is a bonus. Five would be outstanding, but the more important thing this season is still player development.
Our most talented players are going to be our freshmen and sophomores. I don’t care if Beaty decides to redshirt some of those guys because the real payoff is still probably two seasons away (2019).
That’s especially important for the offensive and defensive lines, where guys have to get stronger and develop a little bit more coming out of high school.
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Looks like Beaty is going to hire another new DLine coach. He is looking to hire Jesse Williams from Ohio here is an article from LJW about it. http://www2.kusports.com/news/2017/feb/15/beaty-reportedly-ready-add-new-d-line-coach/
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Our coaching staff is still a work in progress. I like that Coach Beaty is still working to improve his staff. Every coaching change is an opportunity to get better. A better coaching staff, plus better athletes on the field equals more wins.
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@justanotherfan yep. He has to essentially beat the cupcakes at the beginning and win another big 12 game. He should win 2. And it would be nice to see the road losing streak go.
He has to show something this year though or else the guys that actually give money to the football program might lose their patience.
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Anyone else getting a vibe that KU football is going to have a breakout year? I read all the posts about slow, steady progress and being patient with every small improvement. I’m content with small gains, any improvement really. But, I’m getting a vibe that bigger things are going to happen this year. And it starts March 12. RCJH
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Well we holding in there for 2018 rankings, no more de-commits - -so far - -247 now has us as the # 10 ranked class in the Nation. - -I think we could win 4-5 games this year - -Wishful thinking? - - maybe - -hope not though. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
