Kansas third string quarterback T.J. Millweard drops back to pass against West Virginia during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.

True freshman Ryan Willis may be slated to start Saturday’s 11 a.m. game against No. 3 Baylor for the Kansas University football team, but when you’re talking about a program that already has lost three quarterbacks this season, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for anything.

For the winless Jayhawks, that means it’s time to face the reality that they now sit one play away from handing the keys to a guy who opened the season as the fifth quarterback on the depth chart.

“It’s kind of been the joke around this team that I’m a GA (graduate assistant) with shoulder pads and a helmet that holds,” said junior T.J. Millweard, the UCLA transfer who enters Saturday as the immediate back-up to Willis.

There’s nothing funny about the dire situation the Jayhawks currently are facing at the game’s most important position.

Out indefinitely is starter Montell Cozart, who is dealing with a shoulder sprain significant enough he was wearing a sling at Tuesday’s practice. Out for the season is juco transfer Deondre Ford, who started one game in place of Cozart and, with KU’s top gun, was said to be clearly ahead of the rest of the QBs on the roster just a couple of weeks ago.

And those two only got the chance to hold down the top two spots after senior Michael Cummings tore up his knee during the spring game.

As a result, KU coach David Beaty has turned to Willis, one of two true freshmen on the roster, who has taken exactly 21 snaps in his college career and none in as nasty of a environment as the one he will face Saturday against one of the nation’s best teams and most underrated defenses that figures to be barreling down on him play after play.

Because of the nature of the position, the strength of this week’s opponent and the memories of a couple of hard shots Willis took last week against Iowa State, the 6-foot-4, 219-pound Millweard, who had settled into a role as the Jayhawks’ holder on field goals and extra points and also functioned as one of the guys who signaled in plays to KU’s QBs — “He’s helping us coach right now and does a great job,” KU offensive coordinator Rob Likens said — knows he will have to be more locked in for this week’s game than any other during his Kansas career.

“I haven’t been like this since the UCLA days, and that seems like 25 years ago for me,” he joked. “I’m definitely excited. It’s a great opportunity, but I’m here to support Ryan and whatever Ryan needs. But if something would happen and they put me in then I’m excited.”

Even if the need for him to enter the game never arises, Millweard made it clear that he understood his role would be different this week. In many ways, it already has been.

He’s still in charge of his normal holding and signaling duties — as he says, “I don’t mind and I can handle it,” — but he has watched extra film with his roommates and teammates and stayed up later than normal to make sure he has a detailed understanding of what Baylor does on defense.

“It’s different, that’s for sure,” Millweard said. “I’ve watched film (in the past), but it’s a whole different level this week. I am one play away, and usually it’s been multiple plays away, we’d have to really go down there. It’s also a little different with Ryan being the quarterback than Montell. I have to be able to help him out more than I would if Montell was in there. So I have to make sure I’m on my game mentally.”

By all accounts, that is not hard for Millweard, who is regarded by teammates and coaches as the guy who knows this offense as well as anyone on the team but fell down the depth chart because of physical limitations.

“T.J. is so intelligent,” Likens said. “He’s gonna be a coach one day. He’s very smart, he knows football, he knows schemes and if he gets a chance to get in a game, there’s not anything he can’t handle mentally.”

Added Beaty: “T.J. is as big a leader as we’ve got on our football team (and he) definitely gives you some comfort because he’s got a lot of experience. He’s kind of the old man in the room.”

Because Millweard has played quarterback in just three games — and attempted just three passes — during his college career, this week has been as much about “trying to knock the rust off” as proper preparation.

He worked some with the first team during Tuesday’s practice and is expected to take an increased number of reps — with third-string, walk-on Keaton Perry getting a few, as well — throughout the week. All of this, of course, while still running his regular drills with the various special teams units to which he is vital.

During Tuesday’s meeting with the media, Millweard rehashed a moment during a recent practice in which, one minute, he was wearing a headset and signaling in plays, and the next, he heard Likens utter, “Well, I guess you’re going in.”

The two shared a laugh and then, as is the case on Saturdays, Millweard flipped his headset over his head to long snapper Jordan Goldenberg, who, in turn, tossed a helmet Millweard’s way.

That matter-of-fact, this-is-my-duty approach to the game he loves helps keep Millweard calm while facing such a daunting task. And his status as a model teammate who said he was genuinely pulling for Willis and expected big things from the freshman, has kept him from getting too amped up about what may be ahead.

Still, it took about all of 20 seconds to see that Millweard on Tuesday was operating with a little extra energy and enthusiasm about this week’s match-up.

“I think the last time I had a team rep was the third day of fall camp,” he said. “But football’s football to me. I don’t care if we’re playing the No. 3 team in the nation or if we’re playing a high school team in a random wheat field in Kansas. I just love the game. I just want to play.”