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Football notebook: Cozart out; Willis's status
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
When offensive coordinator Rob Likens was preparing for his first season at Kansas, he was thinking about his new scheme, the personnel, and plenty of recruiting.
One thing he wasn't preparing?
A sixth-string quarterback plan
Now, Likens has to do just that. On Tuesday, head coach David Beaty announced that quarterback Montell Cozart underwent surgery on his injured shoulder and is out for the season. That came just days after he told media that freshman and current starter Ryan Willis had a minor groin injury that gave him trouble at the end of the loss to Texas
"At the start of the season, if you had asked me, 'Hey, what's your sixth quarterback plan?' I
would have said, 'Man, I don't have one,' Likens said. "I hope we don't have to have one. We do have a plan in place. We've got three guys, and any one of them can play."
Beaty said that with Willis's groin injury, he won't know until later in the week if he will play against TCU on Saturday. However, Likens said there is "no doubt in my mind" that Willis will play, unless he is re-injured in practice this week. If it comes to needing a quarterback, it will be either redshirt freshman Keaton Perry or junior T.J. Millweard under-center.
Beaty joked that Likens, who is also the quarterbacks coach, could be the team's fourth-string quarterback if they needed him.
said.
"I've never taken any live snaps at quarterback in college; I was only a receiver, so I don't know how good I would do," Likens
Though fans have blamed the offensive line for the beating Willis takes, Likens pinned some blame on the freshman himself for taking some of the hits and sacks that he does. He sometimes fails to get rid of the ball, or doesn't have his eyes in the right plays. If Likens coaches that, he thinks he will take fewer hits.
"Willis sometimes takes sacks or hits, and it's his fault, not the offensive line," Lakens said.
Yet Likens still allowed Willis to run a handful of read-option plays in the game against Texas, which opened the offense for some other facets to thrive, such
For now, Likens will focus on keeping Willis healthy. Last week, Willis was injured on a run out of the pocket — something that has happened time and time again behind the young offensive line the lahways have right now.
as the running game itself. Of course, once Willis was injured at the end of the first half, it cut down to almost exclusively handoffs and straight passes.
"If you watch him, everybody's thinking pro-style quarterback, can't run, he's just a guy in the pocket. But he's sneaky, and he can get out of things and just start running." Likens said. "If I wasn't worried about him getting hurt all the time, well probably run [the read-option] more often."
As for the run game, it may be a bit more successful again this week like it was against Texas. Junior transfer running back Ke'aun Kinner is back and healthy after nagging injuries, his carries and yards per carry were the highest they have been since week two against Memphis.
"Now he's feeling a lot better and looking good," Likens said. "He looked like his old self."
Return of suspended receivers
Hours before Kansas' game against Texas, receivers Steven Sims Jr. and Tre' Parmalee weren't in uniform. Later, Beaty released a statement that the two were suspended for the game, saying only that they didn't meet standards and had to face consequences for their actions.
But on Monday, the two were already back in practice. They will play this week.
"Those two dudes practiced their rear ends off [on Monday]. I thought they did a great job," Beaty said. "Both of them were held accountable and we move on. That's the way it works. They're not going to be held any more accountable than they were the other day. They're going to be back in there and be a big part of what we do."
Other injuries
Cozart is undergoing shoulder surgery, as it hasn't responded the way Cozart and Beaty have hoped. He will be back next season after Beaty tries to get Cozart a medical redshirt to get an extra year of eligibility.
Offensive lineman Bryan Peters tweaked his elbow and isn't expected to play this week. "Well see." Beaty said of Peterson.
Also injured on the line is senior offensive tackle Jordan Shelley-Smith, who sustained a concussion two weeks ago. He's still going through concussion protocol and isn't going through contact in practice. It's possible he will play this week, but concussions are hard to gauge.
"We want to be very careful with that," Beaty said. "It's something I take very seriously."
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