Jim Zebrowski on Jalon Daniels’ mindset, WR additions, working with Lubick

Jim Zebrowski is stepping into the offensive coordinator role after spending the bulk of his career coaching quarterbacks. He spoke with the media after Kansas’ second fall practice on Monday, discussing his viewpoint on Jalon Daniels’ shift in mindset, the new wide receivers, and the opportunity to coach again with Matt Lubick.

Daniels confident in mentorship role

Daniels will enter his sixth season of college football and is one of the few skill position returners. As one of the older faces in the offense, Daniels can provide value to the roster that has 50 new scholarship players.

“I think he feels really confident kind of being the—how do you say—the older person in that room now, especially all the new receivers and new position people all over the place,” Zebrowski said. “He’s kind of like, ‘I’m the one that knows the, I know the most. I gotta make sure that I can give that to them and let it go.’”

Zebrowski has noticed the “gameday mindset” that Matt Gildersleeve talked about seeing from Daniels. Daniels, often hampered by injury, played all 12 games in 2024 and Zebrowski said he’s ready to put on a show in 2025.

“I think he wants to obviously do the best he possibly can, but he’s excited to kind of show the world that, ‘I’m ready to roll,’” Zebrowski said. “So I really have seen him, but I’ve seen them more.”

Zebrowski said there were times last year where he thought Daniels pressed, primarily due to caring so much about Kansas. Daniels got over the hump and put together a strong second half, going through ups and downs that can be commonplace for quarterbacks.

“Sometimes it’s like a roller coaster and you just kind of hope the ups go more than the downs. And as you go down, you just gotta understand what’s gonna happen and figure out why,” Zebrowski said. “And we started playing better as a program—like the midway part—and then [he] kind of got back to like, ‘Hey, I’m good,’ you know, and then carried on to the season.”

Wide receivers are talented, blending together well

Kansas brought in five wide receivers from the transfer portal after much of the receiving core graduated in 2024. Zebrowski said the group is talented and is meshing together well.

“These guys just blended together, gelled together. Doug and Keaton and some other guys that have been around helped the cause,” Zebrowski said. “[It’s] a lot of guys with chips on their shoulders, want to prove to people that they can play really well. I think that’s what’s really fun. Hard-working. Yes sir, no sir. Have fun. Care about each other. That’s been a really fun part about it. Like, they really like each other, love each other. In a short period of time, they bonded unbelievably well.”

Alabama transfer Emmanuel Henderson quickly made waves with his speed, with Lance Leipold saying he’s the only Kansas player to run a faster velocity than speedster quarterback Jason Bean. However, Zebrowski said Henderson has also done an incredible job retaining the offensive install information from spring ball.

“He picked stuff up exceptionally fast. Like, being able to see the route, like, “I can run it.” And now his ability to play in different positions, too,” Zebrowski said. “Not that others haven’t—but just him, for the stuff we do and how we call stuff—it’s not always the easiest. He’s done an unbelievable job picking stuff up really fast.”

Zebrowski and Lubick ‘offensive play junkies’

Matt Lubick rejoined the staff as the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach after spending the 2024 season as Nevada’s offensive coordinator. Lubick previously worked with Kansas in 2022 and 2023 as an offensive analyst.

Lubick’s calling card is in the quarterback run and option game, and his pairing with Zebrowski is interesting, as Zebrowski can develop a creative air attack. In the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl, with Zebrowski serving as offensive coordinator and Lubick as analyst, the Jayhawks put up 49 points and almost 600 yards of offense in the program’s first bowl win since 2008.

“You kind of watch the bowl game, I’m like, here we go. Like, let’s go,” Zebrowski said. “Whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen—we’re having fun doing it. So that’s been awesome. He’s great.”

Zebrowski said it’s been a blast coaching with Lubick because the two are still eager to learn.

“It’s been a blast. You kind of look at it as a bunch of guys getting together who have had experience in different places and different programs,” Zebrowski said. “And the thing that’s really eerily similar with me and Matt—myself, Matt—is that we don’t know it all. We don’t know it all. We want to see what else people are doing that is really good or can really fit into what we’re doing.”

Zebrowski described himself and Lubick as “offensive play junkies.” They look at concepts from different schools, study them, and determine whether it fits into what Kansas wants to do as an offense.