Lance Leipold liked Kansas’ focus, Jalon Daniels’ and new WRs’ play

Kansas opened its season with a dominating 31-7 win over Fresno State in a new-look stadium. Lance Leipold spoke with the media after the game, complimenting his team’s ability to stay focused on an exciting day, the play of Jalon Daniels, and the debuts of the Jayhawks’ new receiving corps.

Kansas had a responsibility to ‘hold our end up on a special night’

The renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium was unveiled to a sellout crowd and national TV audience. In his press conference Monday, Leipold said he wanted his team to remain focused on a day where there might be a lot of distractions. The Jayhawks were locked in from the start of the day, and it showed throughout the blowout win.

“You could tell they came down this morning, and when we do some walkthroughs and meetings, they’re very locked in,” Leipold said. “Matt Gildersleeve does some things with them. He made comments about he could see a difference with this group. So it was exciting and, you know, great atmosphere, what a night that way. But again, for us to come out and play the way we did, I’m really proud of them.”

Leipold complimented the fan support, saying it was probably the earliest he’d seen the student section fill up. Part of the renovations included adding a tunnel from Anderson Family Football Complex to the field, and Leipold said it added to the experience.

“Coming out of a real tunnel kind of felt like a real Power 4 football team,” Leipold said. “To see the crowd and to see how full it was, I did kind of look up and even during warmups, I thought that there’s a lot of people that were in seats maybe earlier than what, maybe in the past… Just like us, there’s some kinks to work through, but I think it’s a pretty cool place to watch a college football game.”

Jalon Daniels showcases great leadership and command

Daniels looked in full control throughout the game. He completed 18 of 20 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns for a QB rating of 213.4. Daniels added 47 yards on the ground and got sacked just once, with Lance Leipold saying he looked confident.

“He was solid in the run game when we needed him to do some things, but I thought his accuracy was very good. Just everything you want in that,” Leipold said. “You’ve seen him play, like, just seemed really confident in what’s going on, you know, and all that, and that’s what you need out of an experienced quarterback, and he gave us that tonight.”

Coaches have said there were times last year where Daniels tried to do too much. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, where Daniels looked comfortable and on a good page with offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski.

“I thought he made good decisions. He didn’t try to press and make something that wasn’t there,” Leipold said. “I think he and Jim Zebrowski were on a very good page of what we could do. Again, we’ve talked about Jalen’s preparation and approach this camp. It’s been outstanding. And hopefully it’s just a sign of things to come.”

Part of what makes Daniels special is his ability to make plays with his legs. He can extend plays, scramble when receivers aren’t open, and be productive in the option run game. However, Leipold and his staff also have to balance keeping the Jayhawks’ quarterback healthy. He said they are trying to minimize it while keeping the quarterback run that was effective against Fresno State. Kansas will have to balance it throughout the year.

Newcomer pass catchers proved to be impactful

Two-thirds (12 of 18) of the passes completed by Daniels went to players that transferred to Kansas. Ball State transfer Cam Pickett led the team with six receptions for 77 yards, all in the first half. Lance Leipold said the newcomers have worked hard to be impact players for Kansas.

“All three of those newcomers have been very impactful to us. Very unselfish guys working hard,” Leipold said. “Cam Pickett’s a really good football player and he’s going to help this team this year and he can do a lot of different things and he’s very steady in his approach.”

The wide receiver room was considered a question mark going into the season with the amount of production that had to be replaced. Leipold said so far, those players have shown an ability to make plays.

“What was going to be a question mark about what we had to replace, I think those guys for at least the first game showed their abilities to be able to make plays,” Leipold said.