KU’s Les Miles hired a new OC last month — but still appears to be calling some plays
Carter Stanley — on purpose — is careful with his words.
The Kansas senior quarterback has two games left in his college career, and he also remains the starter even after being benched during the third quarter of last week’s 31-13 loss to Oklahoma State.
Still ... Stanley also is direct with reporters and doesn’t appear to like telling lies, either.
So read between the lines with his Monday comments, and it starts to create a picture of a potential power struggle in KU football’s coaching offices.
And, in particular, coach Les Miles seeming to meddle with offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon ... just a month and a half after he promoted Dearmon to that position.
The best example of this in Saturday’s game showed up on separate third-and-2 calls in the first quarter. KU — typically a spread team under Dearmon — brought in a “heavy” formation with two tight ends and two running backs in both scenarios.
Pooka Williams received two toss sweeps then — a play that Miles has famously had in his playbook for years.
One went for a two-yard loss. The other went for no gain.
Stanley was asked directly whether he believed that play-call came from Miles or Dearmon.
“Not sure. Really not sure,” Stanley said. “I think historically, the bigger sets are more of Coach Miles’ plays, but I’m really not sure.”
Stanley also revealed — as was the case in similar situations early in the season — he had no ability to check out of those two particular calls to get KU into a better numbers situation. After rewatching the film, Stanley admitted it “wasn’t an ideal box, wasn’t an ideal look for us.”
“I wasn’t able to do anything about it,” Stanley said. “I still had trust in our guys that we could get it done and get the two yards or whatever it was, but it just all kind of depends on the look. When we’re in the spread sets, I think I definitely have more freedom to check out of it or check a route or something.”
So why were there more “heavy” formations and lineups that included fullback Ben Miles, one of Les’ sons, Saturday? Stanley answered by saying there was “really no telling on my part.”
“I think it’s something that our coaches saw, whether it’s personnel-wise or just based off their base defense,” Stanley said. “You know, just tough to tell.”
Stanley, for the first time all season, also was benched because of performance. He said he was told late in the halftime break by Dearmon that he was going to be replaced for the first series by backup Manny Miles, another son of Les Miles. The head coach then came over to reiterate the message.
Manny Miles ended up playing three series — or the entire third quarter.
“I think that’s what was said, unless I misheard it right,” Stanley said of the understanding he was only going to be out one series.
Les Miles said Monday that the decision to change quarterbacks was similar to replacing a pitcher in baseball: The coach simply wanted his team to get a different look.
“I think what it did is it did give us a spark,” Miles said. “I think when Carter went back on the field, I think he enjoyed the time, and he did so with a lot of effort and energy.”
Stanley conceded that he was frustrated by the change.
“It was tough for me a little bit,” Stanley said, “but it’s about the team.”
He responded well in the fourth quarter. After being reinserted, Stanley completed 15 of 22 passes for 157 yards with two touchdowns.
When asked after the game by an ESPN+ reporter what he attributed the offense’s late success to, Stanley started by saying, “It was great playcalling by coach Dearmon. Definitely good playcalling.”
Stanley spoke more about that fourth quarter production Monday.
“It was definitely more pass heavy, but it was all the calls that we’ve had this whole week — or last two weeks, I guess,” Stanley said. “It’s not like we kind of just threw in some new stuff. It was all plays that we repped, and our guys just continuing to fight for 60 minutes.”
Miles has remained involved with the offense a “very good amount,” Stanley said, even after Dearmon took over as offensive coordinator last month. Stanley said Miles watches the offense when the team splits up into offensive and defensive drills and also does a lot during walk-throughs before practice, going over the details of blocking and running back angles.
Stanley said he wasn’t sure who made the final decision to sit him Saturday, but he did say that Dearmon had contacted him this week to reiterate his confidence in him. The ESPN+ documentary “Miles to Go” showed last month that Dearmon’s first phone call after he signed on as KU’s new offensive coordinator was to Stanley; he wanted to make it clear then that Stanley was his quarterback.
“Coach Dearmon is just incredible coach, incredible influence on this football team,” Stanley said. “Again, he called me this morning and said, ‘Let’s have a great week. Let’s put it behind us. Let’s move forward.’”
This turn of events for Stanley had to be unexpected. Just last month — after his team’s home victory over Texas Tech — he spoke about being “(miffed)” that his eligibility was almost up before saying, “These coaches are going to get it right. These guys in this locker room believe. I’d play for Coach Miles and Coach Dearmon for 100 years if I could.”
For his part, Miles said this about Stanley Monday: “We think Carter’s going to be a guy to finish the season that can do some very special things. We just want to see that happen.”
From a big-picture sense, Miles’ potential interference with the offense seems to come at a strange time. In Dearmon’s first two games as offensive coordinator, KU scored 48 on the road at Texas then 37 at home against Texas Tech. In addition, the team had consecutive 500-plus-yard games against Big 12 teams for the first time since 2007.
KU followed that by struggling against in-state rival Kansas State. And that was before mustering just 290 yards and 4.1 yards per play against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
“I still have full faith in this coaching staff and these great people we have in this building,” Stanley said. “But it wasn’t our week.”
