A month ago, KU wanted to expedite its QB competition. Why that hasn’t happened (yet)

There is no update on the Kansas quarterback battle — or at least not one coach David Beaty is willing to share publicly.

During his weekly media session Thursday, Beaty was asked if there had been any movement among candidates Peyton Bender, Miles Kendrick and Carter Stanley.

“I love the competition that we have going right now,” Beaty said. “This weekend is our second big scrimmage. We need that scrimmage. We need it. We need one more look at them to be able to kind of have a good idea.”

When asked if the staff had narrowed it down to a two- or three-man race, Beaty said, “No comment.”

The indecisiveness runs counter to an original plan Beaty shared last month at Big 12 media days. When asked about his QBs then, he — unprompted — spoke about how he wanted to accelerate the evaluation process.

“We’re going to narrow it down to two pretty quick and our guys understand that there is an urgency to get yourself into the top two, but we’re going to prepare all three because it’s a rough and tumble league for quarterbacks,” Beaty said on July 16. “But we would like it get it down to ‘the guy’ pretty quickly. I’m not going to give a timeline, but we want to get it done pretty quickly.”

Perhaps that final part is still possible.

If Saturday’s scrimmage does clarify the situation, Beaty talked about how the team would still have two weeks before the opener against Nicholls State. That, he said, would be plenty of time for a potential starter to prepare.

“We feel like we’re probably going to be good to go after that (scrimmage) to make a decision,” Beaty said.

Further adding to the mystery ... Beaty said that he wasn’t at a point where he wanted to name a starter, but “if I had to make a choice today, I kind of know where I’d go.”

He still insisted he wasn’t going to be forced into any announcement just for the sake of making one.

“We have to give ourselves the best chance to win,” Beaty said. “Our fans deserve the best guy behind center.”

This isn’t the first time that Beaty has played coy with his QB battle. Two years ago, he announced no starter, saying on the Big 12 teleconference before his team’s first game that, “You’ll see someone run out there Saturday. Whenever that guy gets on the field, that’ll be the guy that takes the field.”

Beaty said part of the reason for remaining mum then was in an attempt to gain an edge over FCS opponent Rhode Island.

“We know who’s going to play quarterback for us, and whenever we send that guy out there, we’ll know exactly what we’re going to do with them,” Beaty said then. “That’s the advantage that we’re going to carry, and we’re going to carry that all the way into the game. I’m not going to give that advantage away.”

KU, which ended up alternating between Montell Cozart and Ryan Willis, won that game 55-6.

Last year was similar. A few days before the opener against Southeast Missouri, Beaty told reporters he was going to inform the starting quarterback (and his teammates) who’d won the job on gameday. Beaty was asked why he’d decided to wait on making the announcement.

“No advantage for us to tell anybody (else) who’s playing that position until we go out there,” he said.

Bender was the starter in that game as KU defeated Southeast Missouri, 38-16.

Beaty’s comments Thursday came one week after he said the staff “would know a lot more” about its quarterback battle following a scrimmage on Saturday.

At least publicly, that didn’t change things. Maybe this Saturday will.

“A lot of people do well early. A lot of people can string along four, five days. When you get in the dog days, 12, 13, 14 practices, then we get to see who you really are,” Beaty said. “Tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, critical for those guys. The next phase of evaluation.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 4:56 PM.