LAWRENCE – Kansas Football concluded its Spring Practices with the annual Spring Showcase. With health on the minds of the coaches, the effort was not at its highest, but the players still put on a show for those who showed up to Rock Chalk Park as David Booth Memorial continues its remodel. Kansas sets its eyes on more prestigious goals now with a new football season ensuing. After finishing at #23 in the AP Poll, KU now aims for a higher finish and possibly a College Football Playoff berth in its first year of expansion. The Showcase can be summarized in three words and here they are.
MOTION
For years the trio of Head Coach Lance Leipold, Defensive Coordinator Brian Borland, and Offensive Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, worked together in sync. That changed in the previous offseason as Koltencki, who was the 2024 Big 12 Nominee for the Broyles Award, headed to take the prestigious Penn State OC job. Kotelnicki is famous for the motion he established in the KU system and one of the questions heading into the upcoming season was “Will the motion stay?”. The answer is yes.
MEDICAL
This is the stretch of the three, but I had to keep the M trend going. Essentially, the goal of the Spring Showcase is to show off the future team and what they have been working on, but the ultimate goal is to stay healthy. While effort was not at 100%, both the defense and the offense stayed healthy. The only injury that was clear, was a wrist injury to the red-shirt junior Dre Dorion. On the sidelines, Lawrence Arnold was flying around on his scooter as he recovered from his lower leg surgery. Most noticeably for KU fans who have been around for the success of the last two years, Jalon Daniels appeared to be back to his normal self, with no signs of a lower back problem holding him back at all. Both goals were achieved and that was made clear by the smiles on the faces of the fans, players, and coaches as the showcase concluded.
MARSHALL
Isaiah Marshall enrolled early so that he would be one of the few freshmen who would get the invaluable experience of spring camp. It paid off. Head Coach Lance Leipold said that what impressed him the most about Marshall is ‘how coachable he is’. Marshall got plenty of snaps and was running the offense for the majority of the drives. Marshall showed impressive arm strength as well as a commanding approach even with his experience being limited to a few practices. The freshman is unlikely to make a direct impact on the field for Kansas this year with Jalon Daniels and Cole Ballard ahead of him on the depth chart, but his ceiling is already higher than what many expected and that is exciting. Leipold and his staff love what they are seeing, describing him as “everything they wanted him to be”.
