With running back Daniel Hishaw Jr. out for Kansas’ game last Saturday against Cincinnati, the Jayhawks were looking for a spark in the run game wherever they could get it.
Offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski turned to an unlikely source: KU’s backup quarterbacks.
On a first-and-10 in the third quarter with the Jayhawks looking to tie the game, Zebrowski, who is also KU’s longtime quarterbacks coach, split starter Jalon Daniels out wide and had Cole Ballard run the ball out of the shotgun. The hard-nosed former walk-on picked up nine yards, and on the next play Daniels used a play-action pass to find Boden Groen for a touchdown.
Later, in the fourth quarter, KU deployed a similar look but with the athletic third-stringer Isaiah Marshall, and he picked up 20 yards and nearly broke the run for a score himself. As right tackle Enrique Cruz Jr. later said, “I needed it. I wanted him to get it, too. He was right there.”
The plays made a distinct impression on Zebrowski, who said Ballard and Marshall were impressive.
“We try to get guys who can make plays on the field,” Zebrowski said. “So they’ve shown the ability to in practice. They did a really good job of that.”
Two-quarterback sets are nothing new for the Kansas offense under Lance Leipold. In years gone by, the Jayhawks frequently sought to deploy both Daniels and Jason Bean at the same time, often to great effect. Even last season under one-year offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, KU had a package of plays for Cole Ballard that it attempted to use at one point against Kansas State before Ballard got injured.
But Saturday’s pair of plays were the first appearances of the season for both reserve quarterbacks in the normal flow of a game — notwithstanding their previous cameos in mop-up duty against Fresno State, Wagner and West Virginia — and some of the most successful examples of such looks that KU has deployed in a while.
“Keeping two quarterbacks on the field is good … both those kids can throw,” Zebrowski said. “We can do a lot of different things. I think the athleticism they both show in practice has given us confidence to say, ‘Let’s do what we need to.’ And it makes the (opposing) defense have to practice it, which is good.”
Indeed, it’ll give UCF something else to think about ahead of the Knights’ matchup with KU on Saturday night in Orlando, Florida, and maybe even another yet-unforeseen variation to consider — Zebrowski wouldn’t say on Tuesday whether either Ballard or Marshall had the option to throw out of their respective plays.
“I guess you got to keep watching,” he said. “You never know.”
Daniels, for his part, was fully committed to his newfound role of wide receiver. He even engaged in some trash talk with Cincinnati cornerback Matthew McDoom.
“You can go ask 0 yourself,” he said after the game. “I told him every single time I got out there, I said, ‘All right, one-on-ones, let’s go.’ The first time he was like, ‘I’m in man, let’s do it.’ The second time he was like, ‘You’re lucky I’m not in man right now.'”
The sixth-year senior enjoyed watching his younger teammates get their brief opportunities to shine.
“I got the chance to be able to watch Cole Ballard and Isaiah be able to make people miss, run people over,” he said, “and that’s always exciting because it gives the whole entire team, like, ‘OK, everybody’s making plays right now.'”
Added Cruz: “I love seeing everybody go out there and ball. I see every day in practice, I know what they’re capable of, so it just makes me happy watching them go out there and get their shine.”
The opportunity to play more might also engage Ballard and Marshall themselves. Zebrowski said that anyone who gets a devoted package of plays might have a “little smile” during the preceding week of practice.
He did have to assure the young quarterbacks that their time would eventually come after he didn’t run the plays during the first half. They were both ready to go, though, when their names were called.
“It was really a testament to those guys for staying loose, and they have to,” Zebrowski said. “We all know that the second guy’s one snap away, one helmet away, and then the third guy could be a second helmet away.”
