Lance Leipold ‘very encouraged’ by progress of QB Jalon Daniels. Will he play vs. OU?
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels, who has missed the last three games against Texas, UCF and Oklahoma State due to a back injury, remains “doubtful (to) questionable” to play against Oklahoma this Saturday.
Kansas coach Lance Leipold gave a full update on Daniels’ status at his Monday press conference.
“Still progressing. Again, I remain very encouraged,” Leipold said. “I’ll kind of leave it there. I think it’s still in the doubtful area — doubtful (or) questionable in those things, but again I remain very optimistic.”
When Leipold was asked if Daniels had been able to do more at practice, he simply replied: “Yes.”
Daniels started three games before re-aggravating his back injury just hours before KU’s 40-14 loss to Texas.
The next week, Kansas (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) kept Daniels off the sideline against UCF to protect from any “quick movements and things” that could apparently aggravate or worsen his injury, according to Leipold after that game.
Kansas backup quarterback Jason Bean has started four games in place of Daniels this season. He has thrown for 913 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions. The Jayhawks are 2-2 in his starts.
Leipold also provided injury updates on several other KU players. Wisconsin transfer offensive tackle Logan Brown is now out for the season.
“Logan Brown had surgery last week and will be out for the rest of the season,” Leipold said. “Hopefully, we can look at filing (a medical) hardship (waiver) for that as well, get his year back.”
KU safety Andrew Russell also had surgery and will be out for the year, while cornerback Damarius McGhee continues to be out for the foreseeable future.
Leipold added that defensive end Hayden Hatcher was “back at practice yesterday and doing some (work),” but his status is still up in the air for Saturday.
KU will host OU (7-0, 4-0) on Saturday, Oct. 28, with kickoff set for 11 a.m.
This story was originally published October 23, 2023 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Lance Leipold ‘very encouraged’ by progress of QB Jalon Daniels. Will he play vs. OU?."
