The Kansas Jayhawks were one of the most disappointing teams of the 2009 college football season after many preseason publications ranked them at the top of the Big 12 North. A change was needed after a 5-7 season included headlines of former head coach Mark Mangino physically and verbally abusing players. Turner Gill was brought in to restore a program that had seemingly turned the corner in past years. The job will not be an easy one, but Gill built Buffalo into one of the stronger mid-major programs and knows what it takes to produce a winner. KU is +500 to win the Big 12 North. View the full conference breakdown in our 2010 Big 12 college football predictions article.
The majority of the offensive production from a year ago has moved on with their football careers. Todd Reesing had an incredible career at KU behind center, holding 30 school records before his senior season started. Things didn't exactly go according to plan in 09' even though his numbers were very good (3600 yards and 22 touchdowns). Kale Pick is the likely candidate to take over for Reesing. The sophomore signal caller was used mainly in running situations during the seven games he appeared in. His 55 yard run was the longest of the season for the Jayhawks. Alan Webb will challenge Pick in camp for the starting position. Both have upside and I wouldn't be surprised to see either start Sept 4th against North Dakota State. RB Toben Opurum was thrust into the spotlight as a true freshman due to an injury suffered by Jake Sharp. He managed to rush for 554 yards and nine touchdowns, but missed most of the final two games with injuries. Replacing WRs Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier is going to be nearly impossible. Meier was a converted quarterback that led the team in catches with an eye popping 102. Briscoe was the big play threat who collected over 1300 yards and had nine touchdown receptions. Johnathan Wilson is the most experienced of the group coming back with 35 catches a year ago. I expect Gill to run the ball much more often this season as KU has a pretty good offensive line and a quarterback/running back combo that can hurt defenses on the ground.
Defensively, this group was nearly non existent in the final three games last season which resulted in the Jayhawks losing their final seven games. Six starters return from last year's squad and new defensive coordinator Carl Torbush will implement and completely different scheme that players will have to adjust to. The strongest position on this side of the ball is undoubtedly linebacker. Freshman All-American Huldon Tharp was a pleasant surprise racking up 59 tackles in just seven games. Drew Dudley is the top tackler from a season ago as the senior collected 88 stops and three sacks. Corner Chris Harris anchors a secondary that gave up 245 yards passing/game. His 84 tackles were third on the team, which is a sign that offenses are breaking through the front seven easily. DE Jake Laptad provides the rush upfront, totaling a team high 6.5 sacks. He will be relied upon as the main pass rusher once again in 2010. The past two seasons, KU has come close to allowing almost 40 0 yards/game in the air it out Big 12. That number will have to drastically reduce if a winning season is in store for the Jayhawks.
Turner Gill has a great opportunity to start a winning foundation in year one with a generous schedule. Missing both Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 is surely avoiding two losses this season. Hosting Georgia Tech in the second game will be no walk in the park and fans should get a pretty good idea of how their defense will play this year. Only three games are truly on the road and two of those include Iowa State and Baylor. I don't expect the Jayhawks to challenge for a Big 12 North title this season, but I could see them pulling off a 6 win season.
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