Bye-week breakdown: How KU’s offensive players are faring this year

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Kansas wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. celebrates with wide receiver Cam Pickett after scoring a touchdown against Cincinnati at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Lawrence.
The second of Kansas’ unprecedented three bye weeks of 2025 has arrived, and with the Jayhawks seven games into the year and four games into the conference slate, this is the closest thing they’ll get to a halftime break this season.
In the broadest possible results-based sense, the first seven games didn’t feature too many surprises. At rival Missouri and at cash-rich, high-intensity Texas Tech always seemed like difficult places for KU to win this year. The adverse result that caught the most people by surprise was the Jayhawks’ home loss to Cincinnati, 37-34, on Sept. 27. The Bearcats remain unbeaten in conference play and have entered the AP Top 25 — a place where Tech and Mizzou already were — so the defeat looks less surprising in retrospect.
That might even make it worse, though. Like KU’s road game at Arizona State last year, it was a back-and-forth battle with what was soon revealed to be a high-level team, a game that the Jayhawks let slip late. The ASU loss was one of many that haunted the Jayhawks in 2024 as they missed the postseason; time will tell how much the UC game lingers in the collective consciousness.
In any case, KU sits at 4-3 and 2-2 in Big 12 play ahead of what might be its biggest game of the year, the Sunflower Showdown at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Oct. 25. Beyond presenting the latest opportunity for the Jayhawks to end their embarrassing 16-year losing streak against Kansas State, it also will have a lot to do with KU’s postseason fate. Win, and the Jayhawks just need to beat moribund Oklahoma State and suddenly they’re 6-3 and bowl eligible with three games to play. Lose, and KU will need to turn things around in a hurry and possibly pick up a tough road win or two with Arizona and Iowa State on the horizon.
In the meantime, the open date provides a good opportunity to look back in more detail on how KU fared in its first seven games. This installment will focus on the offense, which has been reasonably consistently productive — particularly through the air, led by an excellent start to the year from sixth-year quarterback Jalon Daniels — but has shown some concerning signs over its last couple games.

photo by: AP Photo/Annie Rice
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) throws the ball during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Texas Tech, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas.
Quarterbacks
Daniels has to this point delivered on everything that KU hoped he could be in his final season of eligibility. The veteran quarterback has for the first time in his career combined consistent availability with a high level of play, and the result has been an impressive stat line of 1,725 passing yards on a 69.9% completion percentage with 18 touchdowns and two interceptions through seven games. For comparison, in the breakout 2022 campaign that put Daniels on the map he threw for 18 touchdowns all season.
He clearly looks like a more confident, decisive and generally comfortable player than in 2024. Even when he had good games last season they usually featured near-misses — passes thrown into double coverage that didn’t result in interceptions, and such. Through seven games, he’s made just five turnover-worthy plays, according to Pro Football Focus, and his NFL passer rating of 126.7 leads the Big 12 and is fourth among quarterbacks nationwide.
The most glaring issue with Daniels’ play this season is his fumbling. For a player who is used to fighting through contact, it’s been surprising to see how frequently Daniels has had issues with ball security, and it has cost KU in key moments, such as when Cincinnati’s Antwan Peek Jr. stripped him on the goal line in what became a three-point home loss, or when a fumble on a sack against Missouri turned into a safety. He has fumbled seven times in his last five games compared to eight times the entirety of last season.
Daniels also hasn’t been a huge factor off designed runs, even if he has been an exceptional scrambler. The Jayhawks really haven’t deployed option concepts nearly as frequently this year, despite bringing back Matt Lubick as co-offensive coordinator.
They have also taken a bit of the quarterback run game out of Daniels’ hands by deploying packages featuring backups Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall, although Ballard’s early-game fumble against Tech could make KU pump the brakes on that a little bit. Ballard remains the No. 2 quarterback and is 6-for-14 for 63 yards with 78 rushing yards this year, while Marshall is 3-for-3 for 28 yards with 69 rushing yards.

Kansas running back Leshon Williams (4) breaks away on a touchdown run during the fourth quarter against West Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Running backs
Daniel Hishaw Jr. and Leshon Williams have had their moments, but this group has not matched the past production of Devin Neal, who carried the load so effectively for KU for four years. Through seven games of the 2024 season, Neal had run for 692 yards and seven touchdowns. Hishaw and Williams — two people — have 540 yards and six scores to this point.
Thankfully for KU, it has not needed to be particularly run-heavy on offense because of Daniels’ exceptional play, and in most games, the threat of the run game has been just enough of a presence to keep teams honest, like when Williams ran for just 58 yards against UCF but scored three touchdowns along the way.
Injuries have hampered Hishaw throughout his career, and his final season in Lawrence has been no different, as he missed essentially three games — he technically played against WVU, but had to leave after two carries after attempting to play through injury — during which Williams took over as the starter. He did make a promising return with eight carries for 53 yards at Texas Tech. The remainder of the season will give him a chance to deliver on what had been a promising offseason, in which coaches spoke glowingly about his maturity, his physical development and his preparedness to carry the load for the Jayhawks.
Williams has brought a workmanlike effectiveness to his own role. He’s not the most explosive runner, although his highlight-reel 62-yard touchdown against West Virginia might be the best individual effort of the season so far for KU on any offensive play.
Harry Stewart III has leapfrogged Johnny Thompson Jr. for the No. 3 role and turned in some solid moments as a complementary back when Hishaw was hurt.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
Kansas wide receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. pulls in a catch for a touchdown against Cincinnati at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Lawrence.
Wide receivers
This group has taken shape largely how KU hoped it would when it rebuilt the unit in the offseason, and has overcome a few injury-related speed bumps for a productive first half of the season.
Emmanuel Henderson Jr.’s speed certainly can take the top off a defense, as he demonstrated repeatedly in his 214-yard, two-touchdown performance against Cincinnati, the most productive by a KU wideout since 2017. He’s also run back a kick for a touchdown for good measure. The threat he presents should open things up for other targets underneath as teams attempt to prevent him from beating them deep. His biggest issue has been consistency, and his four drops ranked second in the league entering the bye week.
The first half of the Jayhawks’ first game suggested Cam Pickett might be the No. 1 guy, when he snagged six passes for 77 yards and a pair of early touchdowns. The injury he suffered to knock him out of that game, though, lingered and prevented him from operating at full capacity for the next four games or so, even as he never totally missed time but simply played reduced snaps. Eleven catches for 146 yards in his past two appearances suggest he’s back to full strength and ready to present a significant threat all his own for Daniels in the slot.
The Jayhawks’ third starter at wideout, Levi Wentz, isn’t the flashiest player but has made several big catches and provides consistent physicality as a blocker. Bryson Canty had the start of his season derailed by an injury suffered during fall camp, but he’s gotten open quite frequently in recent weeks and played a season-high 31 snaps against Texas Tech. Doug Emilien adds depth and blocking ability and leaks out for the occasional screen pass.
The biggest surprise in this group might be Keaton Kubecka, who has a modest 11 grabs for 104 yards and a touchdown but has clearly earned Daniels’ trust and through several clutch contested catches has demonstrated why he was on the field as early as his true freshman year.

photo by: Kansas Athletics
Kansas tight end Boden Groen charges ahead after a catch against UCF on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Orlando, Fla.
Tight ends
DeShawn Hanika’s recent season-ending surgery wasn’t just a blow to the Jayhawks on the field, but such a depressing development for a player who worked his way back from two whole years without playing in a game, including an Achilles injury that cost him the entire 2024 campaign. Hanika provided a mature presence and a key leadership element to KU’s offense, and the Topeka native gave it his all in a six-catch, 74-yard, two-touchdown performance at Missouri that may have gone down as the best game of his career.
The silver lining for the Jayhawks has been the emergence of Boden Groen. Groen was a reasonably productive player at Rice in 2023, but KU was just hoping he would add some depth when it snagged him in the spring transfer portal. There were also questions about how he would return from a shoulder injury that derailed his final campaign with the Owls.
No one could have foreseen that Groen would be close to surpassing his entire 2023 production through seven games at the power-conference level. The California native has 310 yards and three touchdowns on 25 catches — 13 of which came against Texas Tech, the most a KU tight end has ever recorded in a single game. Lubick and offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski have done well scheming Groen open, but he’s done an excellent job mastering KU’s offense, finding soft spots in zone coverage and even creating some runs after the catch.
Redshirt freshman Carson Bruhn impressed enough in the offseason to earn playing time so early in his career, and it’s grown even more since Hanika got hurt. His size at 6-foot-6, 255 pounds is enough to make him an asset, but he’s shown good hands, including on a leaping catch against UCF, and has five grabs on 10 targets this year.
For the second year in a row, Leyton Cure has appeared almost exclusively as a blocker.

Kansas offensive lineman Kobe Baynes (70) lines up for warmups prior to kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Offensive line
This position group is under the microscope after it got shredded by Texas Tech, particularly at the tackle spots, in what was one of the worst pass-protection performances of Lance Leipold’s tenure as head coach. The Red Raiders’ exceptional defensive ends tormented Calvin Clements and Enrique Cruz Jr. all day, and Tech finished with a whopping nine sacks.
That display undercut what seemed to be the general narrative of the season, which was that the group was gradually building chemistry as it incorporated several new players, and seemed to be on an upward trajectory, even if it lacked some of the top-level talent of years past.
Prior to the Tech game, Cruz had, without much fanfare, put together quite a strong season at right tackle. The Syracuse transfer remains one of KU’s highest-graded linemen and has been undaunted by switching sides on the offensive line or by adapting to a Big 12 pass rush.
Another new contributor, Amir Herring, earned a surprise starting spot at left guard by beating out both James Livingston and Tavake Tuikolovatu in the preseason. He’s allowed the fewest pressures of any of KU’s starting linemen at six on the year, albeit in the fewest overall snaps as Tuikolovatu has rotated in from time to time. Tuikolovatu and Gorczyca have both executed rotational roles well this year.
The most troublesome element on the line this year for KU has been Clements. The Lawrence native, anointed as the Jayhawks’ left tackle of the future in the offseason, had gotten tastes of high-level competition in the past when he started the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl as a true freshman and the 2024 season finale against Baylor as a redshirt freshman. His full-time role this season has not gone well to this point. PFF grades him 242nd of 247 qualifying offensive tackles as of Saturday, and he has conceded the second-most individual pressures in the country.