Jalon Daniels provides the twist Kansas football’s new offensive coordinator is bringing

LAWRENCE — It didn’t take long, as Lance Leipold took his turn to speak at the podium, for the topic of his offensive coordinator to come up.

Leipold, Kansas football’s head coach, was speaking Wednesday at Big 12 Conference media days in Las Vegas. He mentioned how much he appreciated the more than a decade Andy Kotelnicki, now the offensive coordinator at Penn State, spent with him across multiple stops. Leipold couldn’t fault Kotelnicki, who’s had a desire to be a head coach himself one day, for making a move that could help him grow even further.

But with that moment, also came the chance for Leipold to highlight the addition of Jeff Grimes as the team’s new offensive coordinator/assistant head coach. Grimes, who’ll be assisted by the return of co-offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski, is someone Leipold admired during Grimes’ time as the offensive coordinator at Baylor in recent years. And not only has Leipold enjoyed being able to work with Grimes, but Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels is excited about the twist Grimes is providing their offense.

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“Kansas football, we’re known for having a lot of gadget plays, a lot of shifts and motions going in,” Daniels, a redshirt junior, said during a TV appearance on ESPNU at media days. “Trust me, nothing in that nature is going to change. But, without giving too much, I’m just going to say we’re going to add a few little sprinkles of how we’re able to line up formationally and having a lot of our playmakers be able to make plays in different spots rather than just their main one.”

Daniels has more on his mind than acclimating to Kansas’ new-look offense. He’s coming back from an injury that cut his 2023 season short. But Daniels volunteered Wednesday if the Jayhawks had a game the next day he’d be fine, and said he’s made adjustments — including core work five-to-six times each week — to ensure he’ll be ready health-wise.

With a healthy Daniels, Kansas has an offense that’s capable of being one of the best in Big 12. At running back alone, there’s senior Devin Neal and redshirt junior Daniel Hishaw Jr. At wide receiver, there’s a trio of senior wide receivers in Luke Grimm, Quentin Skinner and Lawrence Arnold, and that’s before getting into the potential at tight end and the offensive line.

Maybe there will be a period of adjustment early in the season, with Grimes at the helm offensively, and maybe there won’t. But in his interview with ESPNU, Leipold noted Grimes’ familiarity with the Big 12 and creativity offensively — especially in the running game — as two reasons the new OC fits with what the Jayhawks are trying to do on that side of the ball. Grimes also joined with a familiarity for another one of Leipold’s assistant coaches.

“Jonathan Wallace, our running backs coach, was a player at Auburn when Jeff was there,” Leipold said. “They knew each other. The three of us met in Dallas and we started talking about some things. And it was mainly, can we continue our identity and then add something to it?”

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.