You saw KU Jayhawks’ game-winning play vs. Texas. Here’s the rest of the story
Kansas coach Lance Leipold — in the most stressful moment of his team’s game against Texas — received some comfort from the other end of his headset.
KU had just fallen behind by seven points in overtime, and with a chance to answer the score, Leipold told offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki through his microphone KU would be going for two and the win if it scored on its ensuing drive.
“I got one,” Kotelnicki said, indicating he had a play ready.
Kotelnicki smiles when recalling the moment now ... because he’s ready to share a little secret.
That perfect call he told Leipold he had? Kotelnicki actually used it in overtime before KU ever got to the two-point conversion, meaning he needed to find a new one.
The switcheroo, it turns out, was one of many butterfly effect moments leading to walk-on Jared Casey’s game-winning two-point conversion in KU’s 57-56 road victory over Texas — a play that could’ve easily had a different hero if not for another last-second audible too.
The call had to come first, though. Kotelnicki had just used his preferred option, but said there was still reason to believe in the second one he had on his two-point conversion play sheet.
Each week, when going through situations, he talks to his quarterbacks about which they like most.
Jalon Daniels didn’t hesitate when saying he was partial to this one — something Kotelnicki brought up during KU’s timeout before the last snap.
“This was your favorite play,” Kotelnicki recalls saying to Daniels. “Let’s go.”
Leipold, meanwhile, had turned to KU athletic director Travis Goff on the sideline to give him a look. He wanted him to be ready for what was coming next: The Jayhawks were going for the win right here.
There was more to be figured out during the timeout stoppage, though.
Because tight end Mason Fairchild had been injured earlier in the game, Casey, who hadn’t played an offensive snap in his KU career before the Texas game, was charged with filling in his spot.
The question now: Should Casey take Fairchild’s route on the play, or should he switch with tight end teammate Trevor Kardell? Casey found quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski to ask him which setup the coaches preferred.
Zebrowski radioed up to Kotelnicki, who decided to have the two tight ends switch assignments. Casey later said this move required that he run a shallow cross, which meant he would have to run a shorter distance.
Kotelnicki admitted it “might be true” that he considered Casey running less than Kardell might be beneficial. Casey also said that in practice, it was the other tight end who typically came open a greater portion of the time.
Not that any of this was really going to script anyway.
Kardell says because Casey was the backup, the two had never repped the play together on the field together. The whole thing was intended to go to the right side anyway, where receivers Kwamie Lassiter and Lawrence Arnold were running a two-man concept meant to make it difficult on most coverages.
Casey, in all honesty, was meant to be the last option. Kotelnicki admits when coaches had run through this particular play before in drills, they’d never had their quarterback target Casey’s position, just because it would be one of the final reads.
“That’s why we prepare the way we prepare, always running the routes hard,” KU running back Devin Neal said, “just because you never know what’s going to happen throughout the game.”
Once KU took the field, Casey lined up wide, motioning in before the snap toward Kardell. Kotelnicki said the purpose of this was an attempt to get a Texas cornerback to cover Casey, which would bump a safety to KU’s top receiver Lassiter for a potential mismatch.
A rewatch, though, shows what happened instead. Texas’ corner stuck with Lassiter, but the Longhorns didn’t get that communicated to each other.
“It was a busted coverage,” Lassiter said.
The KU receiver, though, didn’t know that in the moment.
Lassiter was only focused on his role, believing the ball might be coming his way. On the outside, Arnold ran a whip route — faking a slant, before cutting back to the outside — while Lassiter headed to the corner.
His first few moments, though, weren’t perfect. Lassiter tried to cut inside the Texas cornerback before breaking out, instead of simply remaining outside. While he still opened up a tiny bit of separation, he made the throw more difficult on his quarterback Daniels.
“I messed up,” Lassiter said.
It ended up not mattering anyway.
Daniels said he recognized man coverage, but he was flushed out of the pocket almost immediately because of pressure to his right side. That meant the timing on his first reads were thrown off.
As he scrambled right, though, Daniels said he saw a flash in the end zone. There was Casey coming across, waving both of his arms.
Texas had blitzed its two linebackers. And that left Casey all alone.
“Walk-on or not,” Daniels said, “a ballplayer is going to be a ballplayer when it counts.”
Casey said there was good reason he put up his arms real wide for Daniels while running: “I’m pretty short.” He said once the ball was thrown, it seemed like it took forever to get to him.
“He saw me,” Casey said, “and I wasn’t letting go of the ball.”
Others teammates saw what Daniels did.
That included Kardell, who said he drew the attention of the safety on the play to help leave Casey open: “I was just saying in my head, ‘Get it to Jared. Get into Jared.’ And I mean, it’s breathtaking how fun that was.”
Lassiter, meanwhile, put his hands up in celebration before Casey even caught it: “I’m like, ‘Throw it, throw it, throw it.’ The rest is history really.”
Casey was hit hard by Texas cornerback Brenden Schooler afterward, but he held on to secure his team’s first win at Texas ever.
“I rolled over,” Casey said, “and the next thing I knew, everyone’s piling on to me.”
The sequence completed Casey’s unlikely journey from walk-on to folk hero. The redshirt freshman said he started the season fourth or fifth string among KU’s tight ends, with Leipold joking this week that Casey was previously listed on the roster as a fullback because 5-foot-9 tight ends don’t typically exist at the Power Five level.
So what all did it take for Casey to get his moment?
Turns out quite a bit. It included a second-choice play call, a late switch of positions, a blown coverage by the opponent — and KU’s quarterback throwing it to a place the team had never practiced.
“It was his first game (on offense), first catch, to beat Texas. Like, how incredible is that?” Kardell said. “It’s an amazing story.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
