KU’s David Beaty preaching simple mantra to quarterbacks

Kansas coach David Beaty has found a creative way to help his quarterbacks understand their responsibilities in his new offense.

“He calls it ‘Blackjack,’” KU quarterback Montell Cozart said. “Just play by the rules, and everything will work out.”

The analogy makes sense considering what Beaty is asking from his QBs as they prepare for Game 2 against Ohio on Saturday.

Much like Air Raid offenses at TCU and Oklahoma, Beaty is trying to implement a system that keeps things simple. After tape study throughout the week, quarterbacks are asked to make reads before quickly delivering the ball based on where they see certain defenders.

“You see a look that you saw on film, you say, ‘OK, here it comes,’” Cozart said, “and you know exactly where to go with the ball.”

KU’s quarterbacks appeared comfortable in a season-opening 55-6 victory over Rhode Island. That included Cozart, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 199 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.

Ryan Willis, who rotated in, was 7 for 9 for 144 yards and two scores, while third-stringer Carter Stanley added 56 passing yards and a touchdown late.

“They didn’t do anything extraordinary. All they did is play by the rules,” Beaty said. “That’s why I love the offense that we run. I believe in it.”

The players appear to be moving toward that type of buy-in as well.

Cozart said there was a moment at halftime, while meeting with Beaty to go over second-half adjustments, that he told his coach that he could feel a difference from previous years. He now felt like he was analyzing plays quicker.

“It allows the game to slow down for you,” Cozart said.

Part of that could come from repetition as well. KU offensive coordinator Rob Likens has helped install the Air Raid at five different college coaching stops and has seen exponential improvement from other teams in the past.

“You’ve just got to have patience and do the same things over and over every day,” Likens said. “You keep doing them over and over every day, you’re going to get confident. You saw that with (Montell) on Saturday.”

The self-belief was most evident on deep throws, which have been a struggle for Cozart in the past. On Saturday, he completed two passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air and also threw a third strike deep down the field that was dropped for a potential touchdown.

Beaty says the plan this week is to continue rotating quarterbacks. Cozart started the opener, staying in two possessions before Willis came in for two of his own. The hope is that one of the two emerges as the starter over the coming weeks.

When they’re in, the two quarterbacks will be asked to mostly handle the same responsibilities. That could include checking into a different play at the line of scrimmage if the defense is giving a certain look — something Cozart said he only did twice against Rhode Island.

Beaty also continues to preach the message to his quarterbacks that sacks are their fault, saying they should be able to understand what defenses are doing and respond to that.

“It’s never on the guys around us,” Cozart said. “It’s never on the receivers, whether they’re going too deep in their route depth or the offensive line. There’s always an answer to the test.”

That might seem like a lot to take in, but Cozart says it’s become easier since he started to better understand his role.

“Like in Blackjack, you keep playing, you keep hitting on 16, you just keep following the rules, and you’ll be fine,” Cozart said. “Just correlating to our offense, that’s exactly how it is.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 6:10 PM with the headline "KU’s David Beaty preaching simple mantra to quarterbacks."