Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels delivered on stepfather’s promise vs. Illinois

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels had a distinct gaze in his eyes.

A look of fearlessness.

It’s a look that the Daniels family has seen in Jalon for much of his life. The intense focus by Daniels during Friday’s pregame warmups meant one thing: He was locked in.

“He has that look,” Jalon’s stepfather Tyrone Dubois-Daniels told The Star pregame. “He’s going to have a big game.”

Daniels delivered on his stepfather’s promise. He racked up 301 total yards with two touchdowns and one interception in KU’s 34-23 victory over the Illini. Daniels finished with a quarterback rating of 168.5.

Daniels missed most of fall camp (and KU’s opener against Missouri State) due to a back injury, but his play didn’t show it.

He ran with reckless abandon when he chose to keep the ball on option plays. He maneuvered out of trouble multiple times to turn likely negative plays into big yardage. Those plays appeared to demoralize the Illini defense.

“I could tell today in the hotel when we were doing some walkthrough stuff that he felt really good,” coach Lance Leipold said. “He was really anxious to play. He felt really in command of calls. I felt he was ready. I didn’t see any apprehension that he was worried about anything. “

That anxiety didn’t show at any point in the game.

Daniels looked just as good as he did to start last season, when he led KU to a 5-0 record and found himself in the Heisman conversation before his shoulder injury. And when he was breaking records against Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl.

“We picked up right where we left off,” Daniels said. “As an offense, we put a big emphasis on not making mental mistakes, and I feel like today we went out there and executed our jobs.”

Late in the second quarter, Daniels did his best Patrick Mahomes impression. He evaded three different Illinois pass rushers, sprinted to the sideline, aimed downfield and delivered a 48-yard strike to KU wide receiver Luke Grimm.

The play landed in the No. 4 spot on SportsCenter’s “Top 10” and culminated in a 36-second touchdown drive.

Daniels didn’t take any credit for the play postgame.

“It wouldn’t be the first time I took a one-on-one decision with Luke Grimm,” Daniels said. “I honestly feel like I have all faith in that guy to be able to make the play no matter who’s guarding him.”

Last week, backup quarterback Jason Bean started against Missouri State in KU’s season-opening 48-17 win. He finished 22-of-28 passing for 276 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions — a more-than-solid fill-in outing.

But there’s something special about Kansas with Daniels back in the fold. Part of it is how he runs the ball. There’s his cannon arm and decision-making on the fly.

Any time Daniels has the ball in his hands, there’s potential for a whoa-type play.

KU hasn’t had a quarterback of his caliber since the Todd Reesing days. On Friday, Daniels got the chance to showcase himself to the masses on prime time (ESPN2), which wasn’t lost on the KU passer.

“If you would have looked back at us a few years ago, we wanted that type of attention and notoriety,” Daniels said. “The fact that we got that notoriety now and went (out) and executed with the win, it means a lot for the future of our program.”

KU now sits at 2-0 and will likely be receiving votes — if not ranked — in Monday’s AP Poll. Daniels continues to maintain, however, that he won’t be focusing on outside noise.

“You can’t drink the Kool-Aid,” Daniels said. “We are 2-0, but at the end of the day our mindset is 0-0. We are going into Nevada (next) week with a chip on our shoulder. We know we have to go out there and execute our game plan in order to come up with a win.”