Takeaways as Lance Leipold, Kansas football start spring ball ahead of 2023 season
LAWRENCE — There’s been a lot of talk about the future since Kansas football’s 2022 season ended.
The Jayhawks announced their Spring Showcase event will be on April 7, Family Day game on Sept. 23 against BYU, Homecoming game on Oct. 28 against Oklahoma, Salute to Service game on Nov. 11 against Texas Tech and Senior Day on Nov. 18 against Kansas State.
Kansas also revealed it would be playing a future game on Sept. 2, 2028, at home against Lindenwood. And Monday, the Jayhawks announced the first phase of renovations that would be completed for the Anderson Family Football Complex.
But Tuesday also represented the team’s first spring practice, which meant coach Lance Leipold and his staff were able to take another step forward as they prepare for the upcoming season. There was a level of excitement and anticipation ahead of this moment.
“There’s a lot going on out there, that’s for sure,” said Leipold. “It’s great to be back out there. … Things that we’ve (talked about) — there’s retention, playing in December and the benefits of that, and then kind of seeing the confidence and leadership of our guys kind of take hold right away from the start, fair amount of newcomers just kind of jumping in and getting a feel for how we go about it.”
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Here are three takeaways from what Leipold said as spring ball starts up:
There are some notable names who will be limited in the weeks ahead
Neither redshirt senior defensive end Patrick Joyner Jr. nor redshirt sophomore running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. practiced Tuesday. Leipold said Joyner, a transfer from Utah State, might be back out there by Saturday at the latest. Hishaw, though, a key talent who suffered what became a season-ending injury in the fall, will still be held out for some time.
Leipold said they’ll try to get redshirt sophomore wide receiver Tanaka Scott back at some point too. Scott, approaching his third season with the team, played a bigger role in 2022 than he did in 2021. He finished with eight catches for 109 yards in 12 games last season.
Redshirt senior offensive lineman Mike Novitsky, who started all 13 games in 2022, won’t be doing much this spring, according to Leipold. The same goes for two veteran safeties in senior Kenny Logan Jr. and redshirt junior Marvin Grant, who Leipold described as limited for much of spring ball. Leipold's hope is that Logan will be able to do some drill work during the back half of spring practice.
Junior quarterback Jalon Daniels, who missed some time in 2022 due to injury, is going to be monitored to follow how much he’s throwing the ball.
There’s more than one reason Lance Leipold is excited about his newcomers
Leipold is excited about what junior linebacker JB Brown (Bowling Green), redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Austin Booker (Minnesota) and redshirt junior offensive lineman Spencer Lovell (California), among others, will all bring to the team.
Leipold pointed to last season and how the group of newcomers Kansas added — especially through transfers — raised the level of play of those who were already with the Jayhawks. Leipold named junior linebacker Taiwan Berryhill Jr. as one example, a returner in 2022 who ended up starting all 13 games despite multiple additions to that position group. So, Leipold is excited about how guys like redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Tommy Dunn Jr., junior defensive linemen Caleb Taylor and others continue to develop with more experience in Leipold’s program.
How Lance Leipold will determine if spring ball has been a success
There are a lot of areas Leipold hit on here, and he started on defense.
Looking up front along the defensive line, given the experience Kansas lost, Leipold is interested to see how the rotation works out. He’s got an eye on who’ll provide depth at safety. And on top of mentioning how much he likes where the Jayhawks are at with their cornerbacks, Leipold also highlighted the linebacker rotation because their three main starters are back.
Moving to the other areas of the game, Leipold reiterated they have to be better on special teams kicking the ball. On offense, Leipold is curious to see if someone in the wide receiver room will separate from the pack. That would add to the flexibility he already feels with what they have at tight end.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Takeaways as Lance Leipold, Kansas football start spring ball in 2023
