photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas freshman quarterback Carter Stanley fires a pass during Saturday's game against Iowa State on Nov. 12, 2016 at Memorial Stadium. It was the first start of Stanley's career.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas freshman quarterback Carter Stanley fires a pass during Saturday's game against Iowa State on Nov. 12, 2016 at Memorial Stadium. It was the first start of Stanley's career.

David Beaty has seen redshirt freshman Carter Stanley manage a game. Now the Kansas football coach wants his starting quarterback to take the next step this week, in his second career start.

In completing 26 of 38 throws for 171 yards and a touchdown against Iowa State this past weekend, Stanley did enough for Beaty to consider it a “solid” debut for the Jayhawks’ new No. 1 QB.

While Stanley rarely made mistakes that cost KU (1-9 overall, 0-7 Big 12) dearly, Beaty pointed to a couple of instances in which a better read and reaction could’ve improved the team’s chances of pulling off the program’s first Big 12 victory in two years.

“There’s a couple plays that I know that he would want back and we’d want back,” Beaty said. “We had one trick play where we had Zuni (senior blocking back Michael Zunica) going down the seam. We had him in a hidden formation. Man, that would’ve been a big play right there, because that would have extended the lead quite a bit, and we left it short. I know he would want that one back.”

And although Stanley only suffered one sack against the Cyclones in a 31-24 loss, it came on third-and-10 late in the first half, with KU leading 14-10 and operating just outside of the red zone. Losing that yardage in that situation meant kicker Matt Wyman had a slightly more difficult field goal, and he missed from 46 yards out with 1:20 left in the second quarter.

“So those yards all make a difference,” Beaty said.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Carter Stanley (9) heaves a pass out of the end zone during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016 at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas.

Still, it was hard to ignore how Stanley infused some life into the KU offense. The Jayhawks’ 24 points were the most they’ve scored during their current nine-game losing streak. Seven of KU’s 11 drives finished in ISU territory. Even Beaty admitted his offense had not consistently put the team in position to score over the past several weeks.

“I thought our guys really responded to him, which was something that I really enjoyed seeing,” Beaty added. “He played pretty sound football.”

Of course, Stanley’s most significant error came in the final minutes, when he threw his lone interception after his target, Steven Sims Jr., got pushed out of bounds.

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2016/nov/12/devastating-defeat-jayhawks-couldnt-hold-lead-31-2/

“But as far as understanding his reads and his eyes being in the right place,” Beaty said of Stanley, “he really did not put the ball in jeopardy, with the exception of the last play.”

Thirteen of Stanley’s 26 completions went for five yards or fewer, 10 were for 6-10 yards and just three gained 11 or more. Beaty liked what the young QB from Vero Beach, Fla., did with his short and mid-range throws.

“There was a couple I thought he could have done a little better with. But for the most part, he actually executed exactly like we wanted him to,” Beaty said. “We would like to have hit a little more on those deeper balls, but it’s not necessarily a tradeoff. We’re going to try to play the whole system.”

Stanley enters his start against Texas (5-5, 3-4) — 2:30 p.m. kickoff, ABC — with a better completion percentage (68.6%) than either of KU’s previous two starting QBs this season, junior Montell Cozart (58.6%) and sophomore Ryan Willis (61.5%). Stanley has completed 48 of 70 throws for 437 yards and four touchdowns, with three interceptions.

Beaty thinks now that Stanley has his first start out of the way, the 6-foot-2, right-handed quarterback will have an opportunity to grow more comfortable, recognize more opportunities and improve upon what he showed against ISU.

“As you start and play more games, that starts to become innate about you as a quarterback,” Beaty said. “That was my only fear for him going into the game. But you don’t control it, because he doesn’t have that experience until he gets in there and does it. But for his first complete game, I thought he played solid. He certainly put us in a position to be able to win the game. He didn’t do anything to lose the game for us.”