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SPORTS
KANSAN.COM
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Evan Riggs says that Kansas and Iowa State will share a room this season: the Big 12's cellar.
Texas Tech, Iowa State and KU expected to notch last-place spots
EVAN RIGGS
@EvanRiggsUDK
With just a week before the start of the college football season, Kansan writer Evan Riggs broke down every Big 12 team and predicted which games each队 would lose.
The ten team profiles will be posted in tiers — the worst, two middle tiers, and the best of the best. The final set of rankings will reveal who Riggs believes will win the Big 12.
8. Texas Tech
The Red Raiders are the team hurt the most by the competitiveness of the Big 12. They return all but two members of a team that had the talent for a bowl game, but not the discipline. They are talented enough to make a bowl game, but the talent in the conference will make it difficult.
Sophomore quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who played the final four games of the season, has the lead for the starting spot. Last year, the offense was inconsistent and turnover-prone, but they have eight starters back who can build off of last season. The offensive line returns four veteran starters, including all-conference left tackle Le'Raven Clark, and running back DeAndre Washington will rack up plenty of yards behind them. The offense will go as far as their quarterbacks and receivers take them.
Like its offense, the Texas Tech defense has been focused on turnovers this offseason. Led by a new defensive coordinator, David Gibbs, they hope to create more turnovers this season. The defensive ends will be a strength, with Big 12 sack leader Pete Robertson (12 sacks in 2014) and Branden Jackson on the other end. They have holes to fill at defensive tackle and linebacker if they want to make a bowl game.
Predicted Losses: at Arkansas vs. TCU, vs. Baylor, at Oklahoma, vs. Oklahoma State, at West Virginia, vs. Kansas
Predicted Record: 4-8 (2-7 Big 12). The Red Raiders would make a bowl game in just about any other conference, but just aren't good enough to win four conference games.
State, at Texas.
9. Iowa State
After a 2-10 season in 2014, coach Paul Rhoads is officially on the hot seat and will have to live up to his reputation of doing more with less if he's going to hang on to his job. They went winless in the Big 12 last season, which included a 20-point drubbing to Kansas. The Cyclones will almost assuredly be better, but not much.
Iowa State ranked 89th in the nation in total offense last season in Mark Mangino's first season. With Sam E. Richardson back at quarterback and a group of receivers that could be one of the Big 12's best, the Cyclones will have an exciting offense. Quenton Bundrage, who tied the school record with nine touchdown receptions in 2013, is back after a torn ACL cost him the 2014 season. He is surrounded by giant outside threats in D'Vario Montgery (6-foot-6, 236 pounds) and Allen Lazard (6-foot-5, 218 pounds), who both showed flashes in 2014. However, uncertainty at running back and offensive line will be a problem
The defense, which ranked 125th in college football last season, won't be much better this season. The defensive line will be improved, but is still very thin. Linebacker Jevohin Miller, who led the team in tackles before he got injured last year, is gone, and Luke Knott can't stay healthy.
throughout the year.
The Cyclones have a talented secondary with both starting cornerbacks Sam E. Richardson and Nigel Tribune returning. The Cyclones leading tackler, strong safety T.J. Mutcherson, was dismissed from the team, which will put immense pressure on the reigning Big 12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Kamari Cotton-Moya at free safety.
Predicted Record: 3-9 (1-8 Big 12). The Cyclones offense will be good enough to make things interesting with most Big 12. The defense will be improved, but not nearly enough to slow down Big 12 offenses.
Predicted Losses: vs. Iowa, at Texas Tech, vs. TCU, at Baylor, vs. Texas, at Oklahoma, vs. Oklahoma State, at Kansas State, at West Virginia.
10. Kansas
The good news for Kansas is it has finally found the right coach to turn the program around. Coach David Beaty is known as a recruiter, and the Jayhawks desperately need to bring in more talent. The bad news is that with just five starters back, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Michael Cummings was slated to be the starting quarterback for the layhawks this fall until he tore his ACL in the 2015 spring game. Montell Cozart, who started five games last season, will start the season at quarterback with two freshmen, Carter Stanley and Ryan Willis, breathing down his neck.
With the dismissal of Corey Avery and Rod Coleman, the Jayhawks will need newcomers Joshua Stanford and Ke'aun Kinner to contribute right away.
Beaty said early in the spring that one of the strengths of his team was its defensive line. Ben Goodman will be the leader, and T.J. Semke is another guy who will contribute. Andrew Bolton was supposed to provide a run stopper at defensive tackle, but he left the team in July.
The Jayhawks lost almost all of their production at linebacker with Ben Heeney graduating and Jake Love retiring because of health concerns. In the secondary, the Jayhawks lost all four starters, leaving Greg Allen and Fish Smithson as the leaders.
Predicted Record: 1-11 (0-9 Big 12). Jayhawk fans will have to be patient with Beaty, because it will take him a few years to recruit talent that can start to change results on the field.
Predicted Losses: vs. Memphis, at Rutgers, at Iowa State, vs. Baylor, vs. Texas Tech, at Oklahoma State, vs. Oklahoma, at Texas at TCU, vs. West Virginia, vs. Kansas State.
Edited by Amber Vandegrift
Freshman quarterback Carter Stanley participates in a passing drill on Aug. 17. Stanley, junior Deondre Ford and freshman Ryan Willis are all in line after junior Montell Cozart in the quarterback position.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
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Kansas looks to 3 to compete for open backup quarterback position
Although Kansas football head coach David Beaty announced on Monday that junior Montell Cozart would be the starting quarterback, the backup spot is still wide open. And Beaty quickly made that clear in his press conference.
"There were some talented guys in this field," Beaty said. "It was not an easy job to win. Any of those guys could have done the job for us, and they can do the iob."
The backup spot for Cozart, who was benched after four games in 2014, will come down to three quarterbacks: junior transfer Deondre Ford or freshmen Ryan Willis or Carter Stanley.
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@hardynΩ
As Beaty and the team turn their attention to next Saturday's game against South Dakota State, finding the quarterback for that second spot
"We've seen them go through fall camp, we've seen them play against our coverages and our fronts, but now that they're trying to prepare for another opponent," Beaty said. "That's a different type of deal."
Though the trio won't face an actual defense, they will get a taste of a new defensive scheme and the preparation that they will have to go through each week. How they react to that could decide who will own the backup position.
"With his experience and where his fall camp came out, you feel really good that if Montell got nicked up or dinged up in the middle of the series, you feel really good about
Beaty said the decision on the backup might come this weekend, but Ford is expected to get the position. He has run behind Cozart through the back end of fall camp and poses a threat that neither Willis or Stanley do.
might become a bit easier.
Willis will likely come in at third on the depth chart. Beaty said on Monday that the freshman may have had better accuracy in camp than Cozart, though Cozart had a better full body of work. Willis is a pocket passer who could be the future of Kansas football if he continues to improve as much as he did in the fall.
Beaty is hoping he can keep a redshirt on either Willis or Stanley, though with the lack of depth, he acknowledged that might not be possible. If Cozart goes down, it's possible the redshirt would have to be burned.
him being available for you," Beaty continued, "which is really why he's here."
"I'm not sure we're going to have that luxury," Beaty said. You'd hope that you can keep the shirt on at least one of them."
- Edited by Colleen Hagan
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