Kansas University football fans eager to know who the Jayhawks’ starting quarterback will be Saturday at Texas A&M will have to wait.

After quarterback Bill Whittemore was injured in Saturday’s 42-6 loss at Kansas State, coach Mark Mangino said he hoped to decide by “Monday night or Tuesday morning whether or not we’ll take the red-shirt off Adam Barmann.”

But Monday morning the coach said the decision on Barmann, a freshman quarterback from Weston, Mo., would not come any time soon.

“I thought I would be able to make that decision early in the week,” Mangino said during the Big 12 coaches’ teleconference. “But looking back and studying our ballclub and studying Texas A&M, I probably won’t be able to make a decision until almost up until game time — probably around Friday.”

Kansas had hoped to give Barmann a red-shirt year to develop and learn the system, but the all-state and all-metro selection from West Platte High could make his debut at 12:30 p.m. Saturday when the Jayhawks (5-3 overall, 2-2 Big 12) face Texas A&M (3-5, 1-3) in College Station, Texas.

A win would make KU eligible for bowl consideration.

“Our kids will be ready to play,” Mangino said. “They may have lost the game Saturday, but their spirits are still very high. We are just looking forward to working hard and getting some victories — hopefully to get some postseason play.”

If Mangino decides not to use Barmann, he’ll likely choose between sophomore Brian Luke and junior walk-on John Nielsen.

Neither quarterback had much success in the final three quarters of the KSU game. Luke was yanked after fumbling a handoff on his only play, and Nielsen netted 16 total yards in three quarters.

It was reminiscent of last year, when KU struggled after Whittemore suffered a knee injury in the ninth game of the season. Kansas was outscored 164-27 in losses to Kansas State, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

The Jayhawks used four different quarterbacks, who combined to complete 36 of 93 passes for 449 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. Whittemore was KU’s leading rusher when he was hurt last year, but his backups netted seven yards on 48 carries.

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Those numbers are considerably worse when you subtract Zach Dyer’s 14-of-28 performance in the season finale. He moved back to quarterback from safety for the OSU game and passed for 161 yards and a touchdown before suffering an injury.

Mangino said Sunday that Dyer, a backup safety used primarily on special teams, would not be in the mix this time because the senior had not been involved with the offense all season.

He also is not a long-term solution, while Barmann might be.

“We were in this position last year, so this isn’t uncharted waters for us,” Mangino said. “We learned from last year, too, and our approach is going to be that Bill doesn’t play defense and Bill doesn’t play on the special teams.

“We will have capable people that can move the ball at the quarterback position. Everybody else on offense has to take care of their business. The offensive line has to block and protect, just like they have no matter who is back there. The receivers have to run good routes, catch the ball and block in the run game. Running backs have to run hard. Tight ends have to block and catch.

“I told our kids, ‘Everybody take care of your own business, pull together as a team and we will get through this.’ We will not have the same problems we had last year when Bill went down.”

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On TV: KU’s 2:30 p.m. game against Nebraska Nov. 8 at Memorial Stadium will be televised regionally on Fox Sports Net (Sunflower Broadband Cable 51).