Lance Leipold on Jalon Daniels, more from studio interview
Kansas head football coach Lance Leipold met with the ESPN analysts during their studio interview at the Big 12 media days.
Leipold talked about the health and confidence of Jalon Daniels as he returns for his final season. He looked back on last season when they were one of hottest teams in the country.
More from Lance Leipold in his interview
Jalon Daniels is an exciting player, is he ready to go:
He is. And Jalon’s healthy and he’s ready to go. I’m excited for him. You know, he’s been so loyal to the University of Kansas and what he’s done to help us turn our program around. He’s ready to go, he’s excited. And the thing about him is even when things haven’t gone well for him, he’s never made an excuse. He’ he’s the same guy day in and day out. He’s been such a great leader for our program.
Last year there were so many close games, how do you focus to make sure you get those breaks:
Well, you’re right. We talk and you guys know from playing and everything that most games are decided between three to five plays when you really break it down. It’s such a small difference. And last year in the first half the season, they did not go our way. And then we talk about it all the time. You just don’t know when those three to five plays were. Ours just happened to be late in ball games where we couldn’t get a stop. We turned the ball over. Something happened.
But we stuck together. We persevered through it, and we found a way to finish strong. I’m really proud of that. And we’re going to camp, keep talking situational football and making sure we’re at our best when our best is needed.
At the end you were arguably the hottest football team in America:
We use words like culture and things like that a lot these days in college football. But again, it’s what your locker room, your upperclassmen, the things about how you go about it day in and day out. And we told our team back in 2021, when were 2-10, we told them the process was going to remain the same no matter we win, we lose, it’s going to stay consistent. And we did.
I think our players embraced that. And we had upperclassmen that talked about it in today’s world and outside parties trying to reach kids doing different things and they start talking about disgruntlement or a fractured locker room and our guys would say, no, it’s not. And they stuck together.
And I’m really proud of our staff and our players for finding a way to put it back on track and play some good football down the stretch.
Daniels, we felt like he was one of the best players in the country. And then last season there were some ups and downs. What have you seen out of him:
I see him as probably the most confident and comfortable he’s been in a couple years. I think last year we never really had the whole receiving corps and everybody working together. He didn’t go through spring that year with a new coordinator. It took us a while to probably get in rhythm of thought process and what we’re doing.
But he never made an excuse. And that’s the thing I love about him, is that he doesn’t make excuses. I thought he pressed a little bit early in the year, trying to do a little bit more than he really needed to, but I know he’s excited. And as you said, I thought he’s one of the better players in college football a couple years ago, and right now he doesn’t really get mentioned in the top in this context anymore. I want this to be a special year for the young man because he deserves it.
