QB Jason Bean back for KU Jayhawks football: ‘He threw the ball really well again’

Quarterback Jason Bean, who missed some practice time earlier this week because of illness, is back on the field and playing well, Kansas football coach Lance Leipold said Friday in his final media availability of week two of preseason camp.

“He was out there today. I thought he threw the ball really well again,” Leipold said of Bean, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound redshirt senior from Mansfield, Texas, who has not officially been named backup to Jalon Daniels, but is expected to start the season No. 2 on the depth chart.

Daniels, a 6-0, 215-pound junior from Lawndale, California, led KU to a win over Texas then also was effective as a starter in narrow losses to TCU and West Virginia to conclude last season. Bean had started the first nine games of the (2-10) 2021 campaign.

“He (Bean) has had some of his best practices, I’ll just say that. His best practices as a Jayhawk have been in this month of August. I’m proud of how he’s gone about it. He’s more confident. He’s not letting this topic affect how he goes about it,” Leipold added of the subject of Bean likely coming off the bench.

Bean practiced Friday, but the Jayhawks were without running backs Ky Thomas and Torry Locklin, safety Marvin Grant, plus defensive linemen Eddie Wilson and Lonnie Phelps. Leipold said he was not concerned about availability of those players in coming days. The season opener is Sept. 2 against Tennessee Tech.

“No it’s back to the same thing. We have a few things running through the program unfortunately,” Leipold said of players being sick and having to sit out a few days.

“I’m not concerned at this point. If we were getting in game week I’d be concerned. Other than that, that’s all it is,” Leipold added of illness.

Asked to cite specific players who stood out in Wednesday’s scrimmage, which was the first big scrimmaging of the preseason, Leipold mentioned Phelps (transfer from Miami) linebacker Craig Young, (transfer from Ohio State) and running back Daniel Hishaw.

“Hishaw really stood out. I thought he did some good things,” Leipold said of the redshirt sophomore running back from Moore, Oklahoma.

KU’s coach added: “I’m forgetting some (who played well at scrimmage) so I apologize.”

Leipold said overall at Wednesday’s scrimmage, “we had too many penalties on both sides of the ball. We had eight on each side. That’s way too many. And so we’ve got to clean a lot of things up and that’s one of the areas, but they’re willing and working hard at it.”

Of the penalties, he added: “It’s early. Full disclosure I tell them (officials) to call it really close early (to) make sure we are paying attention to detail on all the little things. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it.

“You are going to see some things with pass interference. The ones (penalties) that are concerning of course are when we have have alignment issues. We had a touchdown called back because we didn’t have enough men on line of scrimmage. You see the guy who caught it and ran for a touchdown is the guy who needs to be on the line. You just can’t let it go without addressing it,” Leipold added.

Leipold said the team has “got to be better” at avoiding missed tackles.

“The thing that was evident … this time even when we missed tackles we had people right there swarming to the ball. We had more people around the ball than maybe in the past,” Leipold said.