photo by: Chance Parker

Sophomore quarterback Jalon Daniels sits back in the pocket during the Kansas Football Spring Game. The White team defeated the Blue team 74-42 Saturday, May 1, 2021.

The inherent challenges that came with being a true freshman starting quarterback for a struggling Kansas offense literally blindsided Jalon Daniels at times in 2020.

As the QB from Lawndale Calif., enters his second year in the program, though, Daniels feels more informed, and convinced he’s a better player as a result.

Looking back at all that he endured this past fall, it didn’t take Daniels long to deliver an answer when asked to identify what tested him most.

“How big they are,” a smiling Daniels said this spring of the Big 12 defenders he encountered, who were intent on chasing him down and knocking or throwing him to the ground.

“How fast the D-linemen are moving — moving as fast as me but way bigger. Just the tempo and the pace of the game is way faster than high school.”

The 6-foot, 203-pound dual-threat QB was still 17 years old during his first three starts as a KU freshman. Daniels had been on campus less than two months when preseason practices began. But after the Jayhawks’ season-opening loss to Coastal Carolina, Daniels suddenly found himself in a new role, as the starter.

“Before the season there was a lot of work I had to put in. But they felt they could trust me as the starting quarterback against Baylor, so I feel like I’m able to take that experience and carry it,” Daniels said of how his freshman year shaped his approach for the offseason.

Behind an offensive line that frequently broke down in protection, Daniels took his lumps. Even though there were only four games in which he played from start to finish, Daniels was sacked 27 times on the season.

By the conclusion of an 0-9 campaign and a trying few months for the entire offense, Daniels had started six games, appeared briefly in one other and finished with 718 passing yards on 76-for-152 accuracy (50%), with one touchdown and four interceptions. He also ran for three touchdowns.

Many of the QB’s teammates appreciated how he handled the misfortunes and distress that came with his job. Veteran offensive lineman Chris Hughes said he could tell Daniels wanted to be better.

“I think he took it personal, and not in the sense of it hurt his feelings or anything like that,” Hughes said, “but just as a challenge.”

Even if it was difficult to handle at the time, Daniels said he learned a lot during his tasking introduction to college football. Getting “thrown into the fire,” he said, drove his desire to improve in the months leading up to his sophomore season.

As of this spring, Daniels said he was feeling more comfortable as a QB and had seen his decision-making advance.

“Being a freshman, I was always scared about making a mistake because I was a freshman,” Daniels admitted. “Now that I’m more decisive, I can see it in practice and I see things, the rotation and everything of the defense, easier.”

A portion of his spring development came courtesy of Emmett Jones, the receivers coach who was filling in as the interim head coach at the time.

Jones wanted to see how confident Daniels and other QBs would be if they were placed in difficult situations.

“I like to poke those quarterbacks a little bit. I call myself a little bit more of a pressure cooker type of coach,” Jones shared. “I like to be the bad guy out on the football field, you know, try to break their confidence, try to challenge them, try to get them out of rhythm.”

However, Jones found out that Daniels and the QBs were capable of blocking out his words. He said Daniels and others made the appropriate steps for them to become more successful within an offense.

Still just 18 and a little more than a year removed from his high school graduation, Daniels heads into his second year with the Jayhawks focused on building for the future.

Throughout spring practices, Hughes said he noticed Daniels putting effort into developing on and off the field. Hughes shared that the QB got to know the offensive linemen better, and soaked up coaching well, taking advice and applying it to his play.

A super-senior O-lineman, Hughes thought Daniels strived to make the whole team better with his approach as a leader.

“Even calling his own stuff out. I feel like that’s a good leader,” Hughes said of Daniels not shying away from his own faults. “Not just being able to see what’s going on and seeing stuff wrong outside of the room, but seeing internal stuff. I’ve just really been seeing him step into it. He’s growing. That kid’s going to be special.”

Daniels gave credit to fellow QBs Miles Kendrick and Miles Fallin for his ongoing development. He said they all have pushed each other in the offseason.

Between the spring reps and the friendly but competitive environment in the QBs room, Daniels expects to be a revamped player in 2021.

“Learning a lot about the defenses and what they do when they’re bringing pressure — a lot of defensive keys, of course,” he said of what he has focused on since his tough freshman year. “And then just learning how to be a leader.”