Frisco, Texas — Kansas coach Lance Leipold didn’t know quarterback Jalon Daniels was bringing his receiving corps to California until the plan was already in motion.
Whether it was actually Daniels’ idea, though, or instead originated from Alabama transfer Emmanuel Henderson Jr., is up for debate.
“Eman came back home with me the last break that we had,” Daniels said on Wednesday at Big 12 media days. “He came and trained with me and everything. He was just like ‘Bro, what if more people came?’ I was like ‘What if more people came?’ … I’m never going to take credit, so I’m going to go ahead and give it to Eman, but in all reality, when you talk about putting it together, it takes a little process to do that.”
Whoever was responsible, the ultimate result was an opportunity for Daniels, the sixth-year senior now entering his final season at KU, to get to know a full seven of his receivers for the year ahead: Henderson, fellow transfers Bryson Canty, Cam Pickett and Levi Wentz, freshman Jaden Nickens and returnees Doug Emilien and Keaton Kubecka. The group arrived in Los Angeles on July 3 and trained on Friday and Saturday ahead of Daniels’ nonprofit event on Sunday and a relaxed day to cap off the trip on Monday.
The group trip exists in a broader context: For one, Daniels was limited during spring practices after an offseason knee procedure.
“This is a receiver room that I did not have the chance to be able to do much of spring with,” he said, “and also it’s not the same receiver room that I spent the last five years with.”
In addition, it comes after Daniels and his past group of receivers — even if he had spent the previous few years with them — were out of sync at times early in the 2024 season, one of the reasons why KU started the year slow.
As Leipold said, “I couldn’t change it, so I don’t want to say it’s a head coaching error,” but the protracted health-related offseason absences of Daniels (coming off a back injury at the time), Lawrence Arnold (who got hurt at the start of the spring and then reinjured in late July) and Quentin Skinner (who didn’t practice between the start of July and midway through fall camp) hurt the team.
“Timing, continuity and everything that we’re doing really just got discombobulated, really,” Leipold said.
Daniels said he didn’t want to dwell on the past, but also acknowledged he was taking steps to ensure he and his new receivers could enter ths year on the same page.
“I got a chance to bring them back home, train a little bit,” he added, “be able to get to know each other a little more and be able to basically just build that camaraderie around each other to be able to make sure we’re able to go into the season with a full head of steam.”
Daniels played the entirety of last season for the Jayhawks, the first time he had done so. But he still had an additional year of eligibility remaining due to the back injury that derailed his 2023 campaign, which allowed him to redshirt that year.
He said that the period of slightly less than a week between KU’s season-ending loss at Baylor and the announcement of his return was spent having conversations with his family about the merits of returning to Lawrence as opposed to jumping to the next level.
“It was more so just about being able to make sure that I wanted to come back another year in college,” he said. “Being able to come back out here to be able to finish what I started means a lot to me.”
Daniels also said that he made his decision to return before the departure of previous offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, who was replaced by Jim Zebrowski, the promoted quarterbacks coach with whom Daniels shares a longtime bond.
KU spent the offseason loading up on fresh offensive weapons to surround Daniels. Come February, though, the program announced that he had undergone an offseason knee procedure that would limit him during the spring.
“It wasn’t bothering me during the season for real,” Daniels said of the knee, “but it was something I needed to make sure that I was able to clean up before down the line.”
Daniels eventually worked his way into action in the spring. But before the start of fall camp, he also ensured with the Los Angeles trip that he could find some additional time with his new teammates.
“That matters,” he said, “because at the end of the day, you can only lead somebody as far as they trust you.”
An individual opportunity
Daniels also had a recent chance to hone his own personal play at the Manning Passing Academy, a youth camp run by the Manning family of quarterbacks at which college players serve as counselors.
The camp took place not long before his trip to California. It ran from June 26-29 at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
“It was great, I mean, being able to be there with a whole bunch of guys, 45, 50 college quarterbacks, some of the best in the nation,” Daniels said, “some that you hear about to be first-rounders, and some that didn’t really get the chance to be able to have their name out there but got a chance to be able to make sure their name was out there after the event.”
Daniels shared a piece of advice he received from one of his hosts.
“One thing Peyton Manning harped on was worrying about the next play,” Daniels said. “He said even in some of his worst games, when he decided to focus on the next play, it allowed his team to be able to win.”
Daniels roomed with Carson Camp, a quarterback for Southeastern Louisiana who once faced KU during his time at South Dakota, and Cash McCollum of Weber State, who was a high school teammate of KU’s Greydon Grimes.
AP Photo/LM Otero
