Most crucial Jayhawks 2015: No. 10 – QBs Carter Stanley and Ryan Willis
Freshmen QBs Carter Stanley, left, and Ryan Willis, right, are trying to make a name for themselves early on in their KU careers.
We’ll group these guys, because, let’s be honest, they’ve pretty much been grouped since the day they signed and probably will be for quite some time.
The other reason we’ll group them is because it’s just so tough to know whether one of these true freshmen will emerge as a legitimate threat for the No. 1 job, if they’ll position themselves to be the primary back-up or if they’ll both take red-shirts this season and use it as a development year.
10.Ryan Willis, 6-foot-4, 205-pound Fr. and Carter Stanley 6-foot-2, 188-pound Fr. Quarterbacks
In the case of Ryan Willis, the tall kid from nearby Bishop Miege High has impressed coaches in camp with his cannon of a right arm, the thing that could set him apart in this competition could very well be his size. Taller than all of the other competitors and more mobile than he’s given credit for, Willis comes to KU on the heels of a very successful prep career. He threw for 5,986 yards and 65 TDs in his two seasons as Miege’s starter and earned a three-star rating from Rivals.com.
Willis comes from an athletic background. His father Steve played football at K-State and his mother Lois ran track at Iowa State. His sister Lauren played hoops at Oklahoma and his other sister Abby played basketball at St. Louis University.
As is the case for Stanley, Willis’ youth and inexperience will be his biggest obstacles to immediate playing time. KU offensive coordinator Rob Likens has consistently laid out how the window for true freshmen to compete for the starting job is really more like 2 or 3 weeks than the entire four weeks of camp and first week of the season.
Likens has said it’s not impossible for a true freshmen to win the job in that time but definitely very difficult.
That strong arm has really seemed to make an impact on the coaches, though, and his fierce determination and tenacity during summer workouts and seven-on-seven also turned heads.
As for Stanley, highlight videos only show the good plays, but in Stanley’s case, he didn’t have many bad ones to show anybody in his lone season as the starting quarterback at Vero Beach High. Stanley gets rid of the ball quickly, throws an extremely accurate ball, has the arm strength to make all the throws, and appears to have an elusive quality in the pocket. He only lost one game and won so many fans, including the three KU coaches involved with his recruitment: Linebackers coach Kevin Kane, offensive coordinator Rob Likens and head coach David Beaty.
Stanley had a monster season and led Vero Beach to a one-loss season. He completed 66 percent of his passes, threw for 3,070 yards and 40 touchdowns and rushed for 579 yards and seven touchdowns.
He didn’t start until his senior season and by the time word spread about his winning, accurate ways, most schools didn’t have room for another quarterback. Kansas did and was able to beat out Connecticut for him.
A bonus: His high school coach runs the same offense as Likens, so Stanley’s on the fast track regarding that aspect of his job. Starting a true freshman at QB would help Kansas at the gate and the experienced the freshman picks up will benefit him over the next three years.
Most Crucial Jayhawks 2015: