In the name of James “The Father” Naismith, Bill “The Son” Self and the Almighty Mark “The Holy Spirit” Mangino:
A reading from the Book of Jayhawks:
Brothers and Sisters, I’ll be straight forward with you; a quarterback won’t solve a heavy majority of KU football’s issues. But if you watched a half of Jayhawk football this past season, you understand that the quarterback play made the blowout losses unbearable and unwatchable.
With the recent news that Keller Chryst is looking for a way out of Stanford, a perfect opportunity has presented itself to head coach David Beaty and his team in Lawrence, Kansas.
The Issue At Hand
Peyton Bender, a junior at the University of Kansas, received the majority of the snaps, but struggled in each and every instance he took the field. Unfortunately, Bender’s backup wasn’t much better. Carter Stanley, a sophomore took a sizable portion of snaps, but couldn’t break out into anything special.
Speaking honestly, Stanley has much more upside than Bender considering solely skill, but has struggled mightily in KU’s system (can you blame him?).
Statistics don’t always tell the full story, but they sure seem to give us a crystal clear picture on the quarterback situation in for Kansas.
Bender finished the season with a 54.2% completion percentage and compiled ten interceptions to match his ten touchdown passes. Stanley had just under one-hundred less pass attempts than Bender, but completed just 0.4% more of his throws. He also had an unfortunate ratio with four touchdowns through the air and a whopping seven interceptions.
For fans of the Jayhawks, quarterback inability or ineptitude was a brutal sight to watch every week. It was so foul, I’m surprised the FCC didn’t step in to censor the pass plays.
Opportunity’s Knocking
With the announcement of Keller Chryst’s interest in becoming a Graduate Transfer from Stanford, the door should be wide open if he’s interested in the University of Kansas. David Beaty is 3-33 in three years at KU and once again has failed in the recruiting game. After seemingly having a top recruiting class just two months ago, a string of de-commitments has plagued another Beaty KU freshman class.
Chryst was benched in favor of K.J. Costello midway through the season for the Cardinal. His statistic line finished with 144 pass attempts, a 54.2% completion percentage, and eight touchdowns with four interceptions.
Is Chryst the answer for KU’s longterm success? No, he has one year of eligibility remaining, but why not give him an opportunity to raise the Kansas Quarterback Standard when the other options aren’t working out? The combination of Bender and Stanley scratching their eyes out, and while there’s no guarantee that Chryst would be more successful in Beaty’s system, it’s worth a shot.
The Likelihood
Well, it’s not good. While a sizable portion of Kansas fans would like to see a new face under center, Beaty will most likely stick to his guns this season and ride out Bender or Stanley until his inevitable firing in December.
More importantly, what could possibly draw Keller Chryst to KU? There’s no hope for success in the next year. Even if there was a meeting, I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that sales pitch… “Okay Keller, I know we haven’t won more than two games in the past three seasons, but we beat Texas two seasons ago. What do you say?” *insert Randy Jackson “No, Dawg.” GIF here*
The Frustration
I want it clear that I’m not advocating for Keller Chryst because I believe he can turn the program around. That’s not the case, and Chryst is only a minor statistical improvement over the field. I’m just fed up with the product on the field and I’ll go to the ends of the earth to find a new name to put under center. If you were *lucky* enough to see the Jayhawks put 21 yards of total offense on the TCU Horned Frogs in the 2017 season, you’d voice the same frustration.
Any improvement is welcomed and frankly, fans of KU know that won’t come in a Beaty recruiting class. Maybe instead of getting multiple four star verbal commits who end up signing their letters of intent elsewhere, we’ll hit hard on the three star pool and JUCO transfers. Does that line Kansas up as immediate competitors in the Big 12? No, but it does increase the likelihood of winning more than three games in as many years and it creates a strong base of competition.
Amen.