News and notes as KU football continues spring ball, with health at running back an issue

LAWRENCE — Kansas football scrimmaged Thursday for the most extensive time it has all spring, and reflecting on that head coach Lance Leipold spoke both to the scrimmage itself and the spring period in general.

Regarding the scrimmage, Leipold highlighted a few offensive linemen in redshirt sophomore Ar'maj Reed-Adams, redshirt junior Logan Brown and redshirt sophomore Kobe Baynes. Leipold is looking for the Jayhawks to be more physical up front and feels they’re trending in that direction. And at quarterback, with junior Jalon Daniels still limited Leipold liked what he saw as redshirt senior Jason Bean and redshirt freshman Ethan Vasko took the majority of the reps.

Regarding the spring as a whole to date, seemingly, Leipold once again highlighted how junior linebacker JB Brown has continued to shine in practice. Elsewhere at the position, Leipold has also liked what he’s seen from junior Taiwan Berryhill Jr., redshirt sophomore Tristian Fletcher and junior Cornell Wheeler. And some names Leipold also mentioned included junior safety O.J. Burroughs, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Austin Booker, redshirt sophomore safety Jalen Dye, redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Tommy Dunn Jr. and redshirt sophomore defensive lineman D.J. Withers.

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Here’s some more news and thoughts from Leipold:

Kansas’ health at running back has been an issue

Leipold said redshirt sophomore Daniel Hishaw Jr. hasn’t practiced yet and neither junior Devin Neal nor junior Sevion Morrison have much at all. Where that comes into play, is the fact that they haven’t been able to practice much of the versatility they had at their disposal in the backfield last year. Leipold noted they’ve used their wide receivers and tight ends in different ways there in order to adjust.

But while Leipold hopes the state of the running back room is better after spring break, which takes the team through this next week, there have been some positives. They’ve been able to see redshirt junior Torry Locklin continue to develop. They’ve been able to see more of redshirt senior Dylan McDuffie, and how he can help them offensively.

Lance Leipold provides a special teams update

At kicker, Kansas is still without redshirt junior Jacob Borcila as Borcila rehabs after a surgery. However, Leipold did highlight redshirt senior Seth Keller, redshirt freshman Charlie Weinrich and redshirt sophomore Owen Piepergerdes. Leipold likes the depth and competition there, and how it’s allowing them to keep junior Tabor Allen focused on kickoffs.

Elsewhere, Leipold said they haven’t been able to fully evaluate the punting game because they’ve mostly practiced inside. At long snapper, Leipold said redshirt sophomore Emory Duggar has done well while redshirt junior Luke Hosford remains limited after an ACL injury last year. There’s a desire to improve timing and execution, there.

Running backs coach Jonathan Wallace also has a new contract

There were Kansas football assistant coaches who recently received new contracts, and running backs coach Jonathan Wallace can be counted among them. It’s a two-year deal that takes him through the 2024 season, with the second year being optional and at the sole discretion of Kansas. The annual salary for each year is $270,000.

Compared to a deal Wallace signed in Feb. 2020, when Les Miles was still the Jayhawks’ head coach, there are a couple key differences. That earlier deal took Wallace through the 2025 season, so now he’s on contract for one less year. However, the annual salary each year in the earlier deal was $225,000, so Wallace is receiving a raise for the years he still has.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: KU football continues spring ball, with running back health an issue