Kansas freshman quarterback Ryan Willis pulls the ball down to run after being flushed out of the pocket by the Kansas State defense during the Sunflower Showdown game Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
With the conclusion of the Kansas football season — a 45-14 home loss to rival Kansas State — Chapter 1 of the Ryan Willis era is now complete, and the true freshman quarterback who played in 10 games and started the final eight finished his first season with the Jayhawks as the program’s all-time leading freshman passer.
Willis, who finished Saturday’s loss to K-State 19-of-35 passing for 215 yards and two touchdowns, finished 2015 first all-time among freshman passers with 1,719 yards on 164-of-305 passing.
Willis entered the game already in possession of the top freshman passing season in school history.
He finished ahead of Mario Kinsey (1,215 yards in 2001), Kerry Meier (1,193 in 2006) and Jordan Webb (1,195 in 2010).
Willis added nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions and finished with career-highs of 330 yards on 35 of 50 passing, all in a 30-20 loss against Texas Tech.
Willis’ final act of 2015 featured a 53-yard completion to fellow-freshman Steven Sims Jr., the longest play from scrimmage for the Jayhawks this season.
A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.
John Young
