KU quarterbacks remain in competition as opener approaches

By Benton Smith     Aug 30, 2016

Mike Yoder
Kansas quarterbacks, from left to right, Ryan Willis, Carter Stanley and Keaton Perry warm up for KU's fan appreciation day practice on Saturday, August 20th at Memorial Stadium.

David Beaty didn’t really want to release a depth chart this week, but when the communications department at Kansas asked the head football coach for one — what with the Jayhawks opening the season against Rhode Island on Saturday — he accommodated the request.

When Beaty reached the quarterback portion of the list, he deemed three players worthy of consideration for the starting job — not just sophomore Ryan Willis and red-shirt junior Montell Cozart, but also red-shirt freshman Carter Stanley — leaving the starting job to be determined.

“From a quarterback standpoint, it’s been pretty clear for a couple weeks that those three guys would be the guys that would kind of step to the forefront,” Beaty said Tuesday at his weekly press conference.

Early on in August practices, incumbents Willis and Cozart, both of whom played last season, were presumed the top candidates. Beaty insists on including Stanley, too. A day after saying he wouldn’t publicly name a starter before this week’s game, the coach reiterated he has yet to reach a decision.

“They are still competing,” Beaty said, adding Tuesday and Wednesday practices should inform his resolution. “So we’re getting close. We’ve got good choices, y’all. They’re both talented guys. Carter is a talented guy. You know, Carter is not getting as many reps as those other guys right now. But if he performs better in the reps he’s using, then we’ll use him.”

John Young
Kansas junior Montell Cozart (2) works out with quarterbacks Keaton Perry (8) and Tyriek Starks (18) during practice on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016.

Though the QB competition lasting this long might be hard to fathom for outsiders, the players involved in it claim not to mind.

“It’s been really fun, you know,” Cozart said, “just carrying it over from fall camp and leading up to now. We’re both — we’re all — preparing, getting ready for the game. We all have to be ready. Coach Beaty let it be known that all of us had to be ready for Game 1. He’s just going to keep evaluating us as we go, and we’ll find out.”

Asked if he expects to play Saturday, Willis replied affirmatively.

“Yeah. You always think you’re gonna play,” the sophomore said. “Even if you’re not the starter, you prepare like you are because you never know what could happen.” 

When does Cozart expect the quarterbacks will learn of Beaty’s verdict?

“I’m not sure. Hopefully soon,” the smiling junior responded, “but, you know, it’ll be fun just going out there, trying to get our first victory as a team.”

Stanley’s late emergence in the race has provided a bit of a plot twist as the season approaches. When Cozart is on the sideline and watches the redshirt freshman practice, the more experienced QB sees qualities he likes.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t know much about how athletic he is,” Cozart said of the of the 6-foot-2, 196-pound Stanley, “and we’ve seen that since he got there. He’s very athletic and he can also extend plays with his legs, as well. He has a great arm, as well, tight spiral. With this new offense, I feel like all of us will be able to succeed in it, and Carter has made great strides with learning and getting in there and studying.”

According to Cozart, Stanley struggled some earlier in preseason camp before stringing together better showings of late.

Beaty and his staff, of course, are the only ones who know just how realistic an option Stanley, who has never played in a college game, would be. Whether due to habit of thinking about the race in terms of Willis versus Cozart, by honest accident or for some other reason, Beaty and Cozart used the pronoun “both” when discussing the QB competition with reporters. The coach and junior quickly recovered to include Stanley’s name in the dialog on those occurrences.

Beaty pointed to the reasons he would ponder utilizing Stanley as a starter.

“I tell you what, Stanley is a dangerous guy with that ball in his hands when he’s out on that perimeter,” Beaty said. “His dual-threat ability might be the strongest of all three of them, and I don’t know that I’m telling you anything that you don’t know here, but that guy can do some things with his feet that the other ones can’t do.”

That left the obvious question: Will KU game-plan to use more than one QB against Rhode Island?

“We’ll just see,” was all Beaty chose to offer. “We’ll see how it goes.”

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