Grading KU Jayhawks football in latest loss: Special teams improve after K-State game
Kansas sophomore safety Kenny Logan says the players on KU’s special teams were “very motivated” at practice last week.
It’s a week in which the Jayhawks studied the tape of Kansas State’s Phillip Brooks returning a pair of punts 55 and 52 yards for touchdowns — and another punt 40 yards — to set up a Wildcats field goal. In addition, KU’s Kwamie Lassiter fumbled a punt that led to a K-State touchdown in the Wildcats’ 55-14 victory over the Jayhawks on Oct. 24 in Manhattan.
“We went hard all week in practice to try to improve on what we did last week,” Logan, a 6-foot-0, 190-pound sophomore from St. Augustine, Florida, said of special teams players.
The work paid off.
Logan returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the Jayhawks’ 52-22 loss to No. 23-ranked Iowa State on Saturday at Booth Memorial Stadium.
Also, KU’s coverage team held ISU’s Greg Eisworth to two punt returns for 29 yards. Iowa State had one kickoff return for four yards.
“Those guys are animals. They fly around every day to try to make plays and give it their all each and every time they are out there,” Logan said of the KU special teamers.
KU coach Les Miles noticed the improvement on special teams Saturday.
“Here’s how I started the (postgame) talk,” Miles said after KU fell to 0-6 overall and 0-5 in the Big 12. ISU improved to 4-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference.. “I said, ‘Here’s what you did. A week ago you were average as you could possibly be in special teams. In a week you changed.’’’
Also on special teams, placekicker Jacob Borcila missed a 33-yard field goal against the wind to close the first half. It was an important miss, in fact it kept KU from trailing by 10 points at halftime instead of 20-7.
Freshman backup punter Reis Vernon drilled six punts for a 43.0 yard average. He had a long punt of 50 yards and directed one inside the 20.
Taking everything into consideration, KU’s special teams units deserve a grade of B for improvement versus Iowa State. Here are the rest of KU’s grades:
The grades
Offense: C-. KU, which was outgained 552 yards to 240, was ineffective running the ball. Quarterback Jalon Daniels gained 58 yards on 12 carries and scored on a 12-yard run. He also was sacked four times for 22 yards.
Running back Daniel Hishaw gained 2 net yards on six carries. He had a 5-yard TD run out of the Wildcat formation.
Velton Gardner, who has taken over for Pooka Williams who opted out of the season two games ago, managed 28 net yards on nine carries.
Daniels, who suffered an ankle injury and limped off the field with four minutes to play, completed 16 of 29 passes for 165 yards with no touchdowns, one interception and one lost fumble.
Kwamie Lassiter had five catches for 66 yards and Luke Grimm four catches for 53 yards. Andrew Parchment and Mason Fairchild had three catches apiece for 27 and 19 yards respectively.
Defense: C. Iowa State had a balanced attack in totaling 294 yards passing and 258 rushing.
Quarterback Brock Purdy completed 23 of 34 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. Hunter Dekkers entered the game late and tossed a 30-yard TD pass to Joe Scates.
Wichita native Breece Hall had his sixth straight 100-yard rushing performance. He gained 185 yards on 21 carries and scored two rushing touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 11 yards.
Kene Nwangwu gained 57 yards on five carries and scored a touchdown. Landen Akers caught six passes for 76 yards and Xavier Hutchinson five passes for 87 yards and a TD.
KU linebacker Nick Channel led the team with eight tackles, while Ricky Thomas had seven tackles, Karon Prunty six and Elijah Jones and Gavin Potter five apiece.
Coaching: C. The Jayhawks were missing a number of key performers once again, including two starting offensive linemen. In all, five offensive linemen were on the inactive list, leading some to speculate COVID-19 contact tracing was a factor. KU did not reveal reasons for so many linemen missing the contest. KU added the Wildcat formation to the offense and special teams improved greatly in one week, leading to the grade of C for the coaching staff.
Next up
KU (0-6, 0-5) will meet Oklahoma (4-2, 3-2) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma. It will be shown on ESPN or ESPN2.
This story was originally published November 1, 2020 at 8:47 AM.
