State of the Roster 2022
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I think I have everything updated. The big picture: 78 on scholarship, 101 total for this upcoming year. I still have Casey as a walk-on. Will update if they do one of those feel good reveals for fall semester. The other change is I’ve heard Mason Ellis will be a 2022 enrollee, not a greyshirt. For reference, last year we broke fall camp with 83ish.
Also, I’m counting everyone post-2020 as having a Covid year left. For example, I’m counting Jalon as a true sophomore and Logan as a true junior. For those in the class of 2021 or later, they do not get a Covid year. Therefore Devin Neal is a true sophomore. To make things as clear as possible, I’ve added a variable on HS class so you can see more clearly how experienced the roster is since listed class doesn’t provide as much info as it used to.
Now, tables! Brought to you by Stata for the nerds.
The takeaway here is anyone who compared the portal this year to Decided Schematic Advantage and the “dream class” is full of it. There are only 23 true juniors or older if you look at class. I believe Chuck took that many 2x2s just in that one year, and many didn’t show up. All these guys are enrolled and on campus (with maybe 1-2 exceptions). Like I said above, that doesn’t quite tell you everything given the Covid year is still messing things up. This is HS class and year in the program. There’s a glut of guys in the classes of 20 and 21, so they’ll have to manage that around 2024-25. But, you can see this is still a young roster, with 52/77 having 3 years or less in the program.
Lastly, by position. I’m a bit worried about the numbers at DB and DT. We will lose at bare minimum 2 DB’s (Paul and McGary) and 1 DT (Burt), but likely more (Logan, Eddie Wilson, Caleb Sampson). I bet we go portal there again. Other than that, there aren’t a huge number of needs. I do expect them to churn some guys out and sign a big 2023 HS class. 7 under 85 + 10ish graduating + regular attrition gets you to 25 spots for 2023.
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Ooooh data!
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Good stuff. Thanks!
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@FarmerJayhawk Nice work! I’m highly interested in all the personnel changes in our program. Like all KU fans, this is the time of the year when I’m optimistic for the program and excited to see if the team improves. I still want to punish the KU employee responsible for putting Houston on our schedule.
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4 wins and I think the staff can hammer the transfer market this next cycle and get back to a “respectable” roster. They absolutely have to continue taking advantage of the unlimited scholarships and transfers to get this roster to 85 scholarships of multiple year guys.
Big thing is to stay healthy through camp, and then take advantage of the early schedule. The first 6 games are all winnable (@ HOU the toughest of the games imo). Then they are @ OU, @ BU, vs. OSU.
From my perspective, I think the offense should be okay. Returning the OL and Daniels. Added some playmakers at the RB position. I think the WR corp is going to surprise. Hopefully one of the TEs can become a threat (looking at you Tevita Noa). No matter what I expect us to not be the worst offense in the B12 this year…
The defense is what will make this team a 4+ win team or a 2 win team. The transfers HAVE to be decent. Especially Phelps. The DL NEEDS to take a step forward this year. I think the DBs will be the best bunch on the defense, but if you can’t get to the passer it doesn’t matter who is in coverage. I’m really hopeful that D’Marion Alexander can come in and be a threat to rush the passer on passing downs at least. Him and Phelps off the edge could really be something.
On the bright side, they don’t NEED to win 4 games this season with how almost everyone returns next season. But they definitely need to make some meaningful strides forward. And they can’t lose any of the guys who show promise. Felt like the staff did a good job of recruiting guys back, but that can change overnight.
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Build on the momentum of the second half of the season, especially the last three games. The biggest source of optimism is that how the offense seemed to start clicking at the end of the year and now Leipold has had an off-season and spring practice to to really install the offense instead of the basic version of it KU had to run last year due to limited time to learn tge system last year.
Practically speaking, this is year 1 for Leipold and staff since they didn’t get to install anything until fall camp. This is so still one of the youngest rosters in the Big 12 so this season should be all about building on the last 3 games from last year and continuing to gain experience and build quality depth. If KU could go 3-3 in the first half of the season, which I think is realistic given the schedule, that’d be huge for KU because it would most likely mean there’s an early season Big 12 win mixed in there.
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@Kcmatt7 agree on all counts. I think the only position we even might be worst than last year is WR. Even though the early reports from the MN transfer are really positive. They’ve done a masterful job of reworking the LB and DB rooms. I’ve heard Panagos is reworking the DL scheme to produce more penetration.
TN Tech and Duke are absolute must wins. WV is definitely winnable. I can’t point to another one as a definite can win, but the bottom half of the league just kinda looks the same to me.
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@FarmerJayhawk I would say TCU is also a very winnable game for KU this year.
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Update: Jordan Medley (WR), Nick Martinez (OL), and Malik Johnson (RB) retired.
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- Find out what word was said.
- See if there is a path for recovery.
- Hire the best assistant coach available in the nation.
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Racial slur… hmmmm… pass.
