Kansas football faces its first real test of the year on Saturday.
The Jayhawks will travel to Champaign, Illinois, to face Illinois. The matchup will finish a home-and-home series between the two sides.
The game is also Illinois’ first sellout in eight years. Kansas defensive tackle DJ Withers emphasized how difficult it is to play on the road.
“It’s tough, it’s a hard environment just to stay focused in — a lot going on,” he said. “Especially those night games, it’s rough. … Away games are very fun to be in, but (it’s about) staying focused and making sure you get your job done. Discipline is the biggest thing on the road. You mess up, its just going to give the other team more momentum.”
With that, let’s get to this week’s KU mailbag. Thanks as always for the questions.
Who is your starting five and regular rotation? How many minutes can we get Dajuan Harris down to to see him play pedal to the metal? @tcriley27
I envision the starting lineup as Dajuan Harris, AJ Storr, Rylan Griffen, KJ Adams, and Hunter Dickinson. Storr’s role should be similar to that of Kevin McCullar from last season. I expect KU’s main bench contributors to be Zeke Mayo, Flory Bidunga and Zach Clemence.
I also believe Jamari McDowell and Shakeel Moore will play minutes, but I don’t expect them to play as much as the other players.
Clemence will likely be Dickinson’s backup, at least to start the season, but I envision Bidunga eventually getting that role and Clemence becoming the backup four. Mayo will likely be KU’s sixth man, while Moore will play spot minutes.
Last season, Harris played about 35 minutes a game. Due to KU’s guard depth this season, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number was down to 30 or 31 minutes, but remember — Self likes to play his starters heavy minutes. He tends to trust them and shorten the rotation as the season progresses. Harris‘ minutes will likely fluctuate depending on how Mayo and Moore look.
Still, I don’t see him averaging 35 minutes a game again.
Have you ever heard (or figured out) what was wrong with Daniels’ back? @The_NeillyC
From everything I know, it was a back strain that he never fully recovered from last season.
Essentially, it was an injury he dealt with heading into last season, and he re-aggravated it before the Texas game. Coach Lance Leipold alluded to this a few times, but I think the goal was for him to return for the Iowa State game. However, he had another setback in the week leading up to the game.
Back injuries are hard to play through and can be re-injured easily, as we know happened last season. It’s why Kansas has been so cautious with it all.
When is the Arkansas exhibition game? @kuhawker70
After asking around, the date is still to be determined.
Right now, we all know that Kansas will play an exhibition basketball game against Arkansas in Fayetteville, as college basketball insider Jon Rothstein reported.
The biggest question surrounding KU football is the unknown. Our starters played one half of football and now head into a tough road environment. @stevedoyel
There are definitely still questions surrounding KU. Here’s my take as Saturday approaches...
I believe Leipold will have this squad ready to play. This Jayhawks team has more talent than Illinois , and if the expectation is a Big 12 championship, Kansas will have to show it can win games like this. This isn’t the football program of the old — as KU Athletics would say — it’s the new era.
That means winning road games in tough environments, no matter the circumstances.
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