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KANSAN.COM
SPORTS
EVAN RIGGS
@EvanRiggsUDK
Football
Gameday
KEY CONTRIBUTORS
TYRONE MILLER
FRESHMAN CORNERBACK
This rating may seem a bit low for a guy who led the jayhawks in both tackles (eight) and pass deflections (two) in week 1. One of those numbers, his pass deflections, is positive, but Miller's tackle number is concerning since it indicates that he gave up receptions. Then again, he was the final string on a lot of those tackles. Over all, last week he showed he has plenty of talent.
TRE' PARMALEE
★★★☆☆
TRE' PARMALEE
SENIOR, WIDE RECEIVER
The talented receiver showed he could do a little bit of everything last Saturday, including make a crucial grab through a pass interference. He was the Jayhawks' leading receiver with three receptions for 82 yards and ran for a 19-yard touchdown. As the young receivers continue to grow, Parmalee is clearly the guy Cozart trusts the most.
MONTELL COZART
JUNIOR, QUARTERBACK
After a career day in both passing yards (291) and rushing yards (94), Cozart had to be elevated from last week's two-star status. However, Cozart still committed two turnovers (plus his blunder at the end) which is too many for the starting quarterback.
He was mostly quiet in week 1, but he is still one of the few Jayhawks who has performed in a FBS game. His two tackles and one sack (two half sacks) from week I aren't overly impressive, but Goodman is the unquestioned leader of the defense.
BEN GOODMAN
SENIOR, DEFENSIVE END
KE'AUN KINNER
JUNIOR, RUNNING BACK
Kinner was a workhorse for the Jayhawks in week 1 with 27 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Those 157 rushing yards lead the Big 12 and are fifth in the NCAA. He's expected to get about the same workload moving forward, and he'll be a go-to option this year.
KEY CONTRIBUTORS
JACKSON DILLON
JUNIOR, LINEBACKER
★★★★☆
Dillon stands at a monster 6-foot-6 and is the anchor of the Tigers defense at the hybrid linebacker position — or the dawg spot. He's in his third year as starter and can do just about everything; pass rush, cover the tight end. play run defense and simply lead the defense. He was quiet last week, but he's going to be all over the field in Memphis' 50 defense.
MOSE FRAIZER
MOSE FRAIZER
SENIOR, WIDE RECEIVER
★★★☆☆
Fraizer caught six passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers' week 1 win. At 5-foot-10, his size isn't intimidating, but his speed (4.45 second 40-yard dash time) will present a challenge for the young Jayhawk secondary that struggled to contain South Dakota State's sophomore wide receiver Jake Wieneke last week.
PAXTON LYNCH
JUNIOR. QUARTERBACK
At 6-foot-7 and 247 pounds, Lynch is bigger than almost every Jayhawk player on defense. In week 1, he was just 8-of-12 for 78 yards and one touchdown through the air, but production wasn't needed in the Tigers' 63-7 win. Last season, Lynch proved he's a productive quarterback by throwing for 3,031 yards and 22 touchdowns.
WYNTON MCMANIS
SENIOR, LINEBACKER
★★★☆☆
McManis is one of the veteran leaders of the impressive Tigers' run defense, which only allowed 18 yards rushing to Missouri State last week. McManis recorded three tackles and recovered a fumble. Don't let the lack of tackles fool you because of the lopsided score; the Tigers had 20 players make at least one tackle.
MEMPHIS RUNNING BACKS
Week 1 was a running back by committee system for the Tigers. Junior Jarvis Cooper, sophomores Doroland Dorceus and Sam Craft and freshman Jamarius Henderson rushed for 266 yards and five touchdowns. With how much the Jayhawk defense struggled tackling last Saturday, the Tigers' backfield should be in for another big day.
PREDICTION: MEMPHIS 42, KANSAS 24
By the Numbers
576
The amount of total yards the Jayhawk offense produced in week 1. The last time they topped that number was in 2007 with Todd Reesing at quarterback.
The amount of turnovers forced by the jayhawk defense. They were one of 29 teams in the FBS to force no turnovers in week 1.
Cozart's 294 passing yards were the most passing yards by a layhawk quarterback since Dayne Crist's 303 yards on Sept. 15, 2012 against TCU.
The amount of points the Tigers scored in the first half of their season opener. The first team offense didn't play long, but when they did they were extremely effective.
The height of Memphis junior quarterback Paxton Lynch in inches, which equates to 6-foot-7. That's a big advantage for the quarterback when looking over the line and when he decides to scramble.
The Memphis offense committed nine penalties for 92 yards in week1, which was the 12th most penalty yards in the country.
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
Edited by Dani Malakoff
Schad: I think you see a lot of effects of last year. The coaches would tell you that it wasn't really a one-year turn around. The year before, 2013, I think they finished 3-9, but the coaches would tell you that they made huge strides that year, too. So, it was kind of
Opposing sideline: KU vs. Memphis
Coaches are hard to get a grasp on, especially when talking about an opposing team. They don't always say everything they know and often skew the truth. That's why we have the opposing sideline: to find out the truth about Kansas football's opponents.
UDK: Memphis has sort of changed face in a matter of a year. Have they seen the benefit of winning — through recruiting, through fan support?
UDK: How would you characterize head coach Justin Fuente?
This week I talked to Tom Schad, the Memphis football beat writer for The Commercial Appeal, the top newspaper in Memphis, Tenn. We touched on everything from the team's recent success to the size advantage of junior quarterback Paxton Lynch to what Memphis coaches have raved about when talking about Kansas.
Schad: The obvious thing is, when you're a taller quarterback, you have an easier time
— since coach [Justin] Fuente got here — a three-year process. The last year, winning 10 games, winning the Miami Beach Bowl, especially in the fashion that they did — it was one of the best bowl games of the season last year — I think that's had ripple effects everywhere. You've seen, kind of, a new buzz in the city. They had 41,700 fans at their season opener against Missouri State, which, for Memphis playing an FCS team was pretty impressive.
Then, especially in recruiting, too, the biggest guy that they've gotten, at least from the cycle so far, was three-star quarterback Keon Howard from Mississippi, a kid who had a bunch of other FBS offers, who maybe Memphis wouldn't have been able to get in the past. For a while, Fuente was selling this dream or this thing that might happen someday, and then last year it happened. So, now he can say, you know, especially to recruits, "This is what we can accomplish here, because we did it last year." It's really had an effect in a lot of areas.
Schad: I would basically describe him as someone, coming from TCU, under coach [Gary] Patterson, he saw the success that they had there and he knows, kind of, what is needed to replicate that success. He's a guy that is extremely detailed oriented. Every second of practice is carefully scripted. Everything they do throughout the course of the week, from when they watch film, even in the offseason too, all their spring practices, when they were lifting in the summer, when they scrimmage — all the stuff is pre-scripted and most of it comes from what he learned from when he was at TCU. Very detailed oriented, very demanding, and like I said, I think he has a very clear idea, and a clear goal of what he wants to see. He's very ... demanding would be the best word in order to get the players to meet that standard.
UDK: The biggest player for Memphis is quarterback Paxton Lynch. He's 6-foot-7. How does he use his height to his advantage, because that's something that stands out on paper?
seeing the throwing lanes. You can see over the offensive lineman, and the field just becomes a lot easier to read. The biggest thing that people might now appreciate with Paxton is how agile he is, and how quick he is. He added 15 pounds in the summer, that was a big story line. He said that he wanted to kind of bulk up a bit because he thought it would make him tougher to bring down when he's running the ball. Memphis likes to run a lot of options, a few QB draws, and I think that's one of the areas that Paxton is underrated a little bit... Just having that sheer size, again, the height and the weight, makes him harder to bring down and makes him a dangerous rusher when he has the ball in his hands, too.
Schad: I definitely agree with that. On offense, they have Paxton, being able to run the ball helps, but then they have four running backs that all
UDK: The coaches and junior quarterback Montell Cozart on Tuesday talked about the misdirection of this Memphis team both offensively and defensively. Their goal is to confuse you. Have you seen that, or noticed that in practice or in the first game?
There's definitely versatility there, then on defense, the key they run a 50 defense, but they have a hybrid linebacker, they call it the "dawg linebacker" position. That's [junior] Jackson Dillon, just probably their best defensive player, so he's typically an edge rusher, but he can kind of move from one side of the line to the other to confuse the opposing offensive line, he can drop into coverage. He just does a lot of different things, and especially when you get into third down situations, defensive coordinator Galen Scott does a lot of different things to try to confuse opposing offenses.
kind of bring different skill sets to the table, and they've proven themselves to be pretty solid throughout the preseason and in the opener. That creates a lot of versatility. They have one player, junior Sam Craft who is listed on their depth chart as the starting running back, but can also split out wide as a wide receiver, they can do some reverses, and some screens with him, as they showed in the opener.
UDK: There's a lot of running backs on this team; is there anyone that will separate and maybe become a work horse?
Schad: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. Six guys got carries [last week], but four are expected to share the load as the season goes on. Redshift sophomore Doroland Dorceus is kind of the best all around back. He tore his ACL in Week 4 last year against Ole Miss; he's back and healthy and ran for a pair of scores last week. You've got a true freshman, Jamarius Henderson, who ran for about 3,500 yards in his senior year of high school, which is pretty ridiculous, and we saw in the opener and we saw all preseason what he's capable of. He's got a nice blend of speed and power, and he's kind of forced coaches to play him immediately. Then, you've got a thunder and lightning duo. I mentioned junior Sam Craft, he's kind of the lightning, the quick, chance of pace back, then sophomore Jarvis Cooper is a 250-pound, former linebacker who just plows people over.
I don't know if any one of them will be the guy. I think they're going to ride the hot hand at various points over the course of the season. If one guy is particularly effective against a particular scheme, or is just having a good day... I think they're prepared to give that guy the bulk of the carries.
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