The country’s football experts continue to heap praise on the Kansas Jayhawks football team entering Year 4 of the Lance Leipold era.
On Wednesday, two days after KU was awarded a No. 22 ranking in the AP preseason poll — its first appearance in the preseason rankings in 15 years — ESPN analyst Rece Davis proclaimed the Jayhawks the eventual 2024 Big 12 champs and the No. 4 overall seed in the College Football Playoff on his “College GameDay Podcast.”
“I’ll say in the Big 12, they are not going to get the 3 seed (in playoff). According to me, they will be the 4 seed. I think the Big 12 champion will be the Kansas Jayhawks,” Davis said on the podcast . “I mean, you think about what this would mean historically, their last conference title was in 1968 in the Big Eight. They were co-champions.
“This could be the wrongest prediction that ever ‘wrongest wronged’ if Jalon Daniels does not stay healthy and that has been a massive issue the last couple years,” Davis added. “Some people describe it as depth. I’ll describe the Big 12 as having width. There are a lot of teams very similar and depending on who gets the breaks and who wins the close games, that’s where it’s going to go. If I’m going to say who is going to win out of a wide band of similar teams, I’ll spin that wheel of fortune, roll those dice and go if healthy with the most dangerous quarterback, maybe the most creative offense, and I’ll go with Kansas.”
Davis’ high praise came six weeks after the Jayhawks were tabbed fourth of 16 teams in the Big 12’s preseason poll, KU’s highest position in that poll since the league went to a non-divisional format in 2011.
So will all the kind words, all the national attention, affect the play of the Jayhawks, who return several veteran players from a 9-4 team that defeated UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl?
No, says senior defensive end Jereme Robinson, who said the squad still has much to prove and accomplish on the field.
“It’s just there are more eyes on us this year,” said Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound native of Montgomery, Alabama. “I feel we’ve still got the same feeling (as last year). We are still hungry. We still want to get out there and ball, but it’s just more eyes now. Now we’ve got to pay more attention to detail.”
One way to avoid any temptation of complacency as the program continues to gain respect in the public eye, Robinson noted, is having a batch of veterans to keep things in perspective.
The preseason watch lists have been full of Jayhawk vets including Lawrence Arnold (Biletnikoff), Daniels (Davey O’Brien, Walter Camp, Maxwell), Devin Neal (Doak Walker, Maxwell), Luke Hosford (Mannelly), Cobee Bryant (Bednarik, Nagurski, Thorpe) and Jared Casey (Wuerffel). Also senior defensive backs Bryant and Mello Dotson were named preseason all-league by the AP.
“A lot of our goals … we have goal sheets in our lockers to where players have their personal growth on there,” Robinson said. “We try to talk about them (goals) every week. We want to make sure we hold ourselves accountable. The more you talk about them (goals) out loud, the more you want to accomplish them.”
Robinson said his goals this season include being the team’s “sack leader. I want to become all-Big 12 of course. ... I want to go to all the Senior Bowls and stuff like that, get invitations, of course. But it doesn’t matter what my goals are unless we win everything. Winning is what matters to me.”
Being talked about in a positive tone in the preseason is vastly different from the days KU was an automatic pick for last in the conference with no chance of being ranked. KU has had records of 2-10, 6-7 and 9-4 in the Leipold era. The Jayhawks have played in bowl games each of the last two campaigns.
“It doesn’t mean much,” KU coach Leipold said Monday when asked about being ranked No. 22, “especially as we get close to kicking off, but I also have to make sure that it does mean something for this program considering where we were at, what has been in the past.
“We are taking strides from last year and enough this year that people are recognizing this program and recognizing the talent on this team and some of the things we’ve been able to do. It is positive because whether it be recruiting, whether it be our fan base, whatever the case may be, we have to take these type (of) things and take them for what they are worth. At face value it doesn’t win you anything, but again, hopefully people are going to continue to get behind this program.”
One source of daily inspiration, Robinson said, is witnessing the progress being made by construction crews on David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium . The Jayhawks are enjoying a renovated Anderson Family Football Complex this preseason with a renovated stadium to open next August, when Robinson hopes to be playing in the NFL.
“It’s a good impact. It’s almost like a refresher. It shows that we can battle anybody in the country with our facilities. Now we can just show it off and wait on our stadium next,” Robinson said.
He spoke with media a day after touring a renovated Anderson Family Football Complex which now includes a sauna, massage chairs, cryotherapy chamber and players lounge/game room, as well as the weight room.
Daily, Robinson sees construction crews erecting the west bleachers of the stadium.
“I like the whole thing, the lounge where we get to chill at. The whole thing is starting to get put together now,” Robinson said.
KU will open against Lindenwood on Aug. 29. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Children’s Mercy Park.
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