3 more things to think about before Kansas football kicks off spring ball this year
LAWRENCE — Kansas football is still some ways away from the start of spring ball this year.
According to head coach Lance Leipold, the Jayhawks won’t kick things off in that regard until after spring break. According to the KU academic calendar for this spring, the first day of spring break is March 11 and the last day is March 17. So, there’s time.
But given the trajectory the program is on, there’s already a lot of anticipation for what this spring could mean for Kansas ahead of its 2024 season. The Jayhawks are coming off of back-to-back bowl appearances in 2022 and 2023 and a Guaranteed Rate Bowl victory in the latter. And considering the recent news of Leipold’s new contract, the momentum in Lawrence continues to build.
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Here are a few more things to think about before Kansas’ spring practices begin:
Lance Leipold has enjoyed the new perspective Jeff Grimes has brought
When Andy Kotelnicki decided to leave Kansas for Penn State late last year, that left a void for Leipold to fill at offensive coordinator. He ended up hiring Jeff Grimes, who most recently was an assistant coach at Baylor, as the Jayhawks’ new offensive coordinator and assistant head coach. And although it’s not as if Leipold wanted to see Kotelnicki go, there are still benefits that have come with Grimes’ new perspective.
Leipold explained that the one thing this program needed for so long was continuity, and through the initial years of his tenure they’ve been able to establish that. But at the same time, bringing in someone new — and Grimes isn’t the only new assistant coach on staff for 2024 — forces everyone to learn and grow. It’s something Leipold thinks could help ensure he himself doesn’t become complacent.
One thing Leipold said has been fun to see with Grimes, was Grimes’ role in the hire of Kansas’ new offensive line coach. The Jayhawks went with Northern Illinois’ Daryl Agpalsa, after the previous offensive line coach departed — Scott Fuchs took a position in the professional ranks on the staff of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. And Leipold noted that Grimes was in command of what he wanted while not coming across as controlling.
There are reasons why Lance Leipold is starting spring ball as late as he is
After the first two seasons of Leipold’s tenure, which came in 2021 and 2022, he thought it was important to start spring ball earlier to help with player retention of what Kansas is doing. That was especially the case after Leipold’s first season at the helm in 2021, because the timing of Leipold’s arrival that year meant he didn’t even have a full spring ball with the team prior to that campaign. But now they both have a lot of guys back from the 2023 team and things are more established as they prepare for 2024.
Kansas will also have spent about two months doing its winter strength and conditioning program prior to the start of spring ball this year, which could mean a group of players whose excitement level will be higher when spring practices finally start. Starting spring ball later also could mean better weather for the practices they hold outside. Time will tell how much the plan helps the Jayhawks out this season.
Lance Leipold will address the heightened expectations for Kansas
Kansas is a common pick in the way-too-early top 25 polls that come out this time of year. That’s new territory for the Jayhawks, who are in line to contend for a Big 12 Conference title. But while Leipold noted recently he hasn’t had a ton of meetings where he’s been in front of the team yet, he does intend to address the heightened expectations people have for them when he speaks with his players.
Leipold said there’s a balancing act when talking about something like that. There’s the need for everyone to remain hungry for more success, in addition to the need to highlight that everyone should be proud of how far they’ve come so fast. Managing that balance effectively will help Kansas realize its goals in 2024.
“(Kansas men’s basketball coach) Bill Self has said it to me multiple times, ‘Building is really the fun part, maintaining is really hard,’” Leipold said. “Especially when you have the guys that have played — OK, they have confidence and experience. But then you add the new guys that don’t know all the work that it takes and you have to make sure that they’re putting in all that early work as well. And that’s kind of what’s going to be important here this spring.”
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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.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Check out what Kansas football coach Lance Leipold is thinking about
