Jalon Daniels approaching final year at Kansas with determination

FRISCO, Texas — After encountering several injuries, and tough losses throughout his career, the Jayhawk quarterback is preparing to go out with a bang in his last season in Lawrence.

Jalon Daniels embraces the trials and tribulations because he believes it strengthens him mentally. After all, he’s been through some adversity with Kansas. The Californian helped the Jayhawks win six games, and achieve bowl eligibility in 2022. Although Kansas won nine contests in 2023, Daniels was sidelined with a back tightness for most of that season.

Last year he finally made it through an entire season healthy, but his production was down, and the Jayhawks suffered a losing campaign. Daniels is taking the positives from 2024, like winning three of the final four games, and using it all as momentum for this upcoming season. This time around he’ll have a lot of new teammates though, and wants them to embrace the culture.

“We don’t really look at last year, and neither are we looking too far into the future this season,” Daniels said. “We have a whole new team, a lot of guys who are new on both sides of the ball, and that message wouldn’t resonate with them as much as it would a team coming back from that year.”

Daniels takes pride in his leadership being a team captain, but understands there are areas he must improve on the field. He threw 12 interceptions last year, and finished 73rd nationally in passing efficiency. Not to mention the fumble that he lost at Kansas State cost Kansas the win. Still, he’s keeping his head high, and ready to rebound from all of the shortcomings.

“My mom always told me you never lose, you either win or learn,” he said. “As much as those situations kind of hurt, because it was definitely uncharacteristic of me throughout my college career, you gotta learn from it.”

The offense lost some firepower from last season, including the program’s all-time leading rusher Devin Neal, and the top-three wide receivers. So Daniels will have to find new weapons. After spending the entire offseason building chemistry with the wide receivers, and working on his mechanics, Daniels is feeling more comfortable in year two of Jim Zebrowski’s offense. He’s making others around him better too, and the system is looking promising.

“I believe in our offense being able to score from any component that we use, whether it’s through the air, on the ground or any other way, we have to get points on the board,” the 22-year old said. “I believe in every single player that we have on offense to be able to make something happen with the ball in their hands.”

Daniels is an explosive player, who can hurt defenses with his harm and legs, and as long as he takes care of the football, everything else will take care of itself. The anticipation is high for the upcoming season, considering the Jayhawks will be back at home, after playing all of last year’s games away from David Booth Memorial Stadium.

Everything appears to be coming full circle for Daniels, and he already ranks second at Kansas in career passing yards, touchdown tosses and total offense. Navigating through a conference full of parity will be challenging, but Daniels is confident that his best days as a Jayhawk are still ahead.

Even Coach Lance Leipold knows what Daniels is capable of on the gridiron, and feels the best is yet to come. Which is why Leipold can’t wait to see Daniels spread his wings this fall.

“When we see Jalon playing his best, I think there’s not many better, that’s for sure.”