All three bowl-game starting quarterbacks for Kansas were vertically challenged by Big 12 standards, but not challenged at stretching the field vertically, which of course is far more important.
Bill Whittemore, Jason Swanson and Todd Reesing combined to go 3-1 in bowl games at Kansas.
Reesing was listed at 5-foot-11, Whittemore and Swanson at 6-foot.
Miles Kendrick, a native of San Jose who spent one semester at San Mateo Community Collge before enrolling at Kansas, is even shorter at 5-10.
That doesn’t mean he’ll be good, but it does take the air out of the inevitable question: If he’s any good, why didn’t anyone else offer him a scholarship? The bigger the program, the less likely the coaching staff will take a chance on a short quarterback.
Kendrick started the season second on San Mateo’s depth chart behind Shawn Akina, son of Stanford defensive backs coach Duane Akina. Despite Akina playing well, Kendrick beat him out from the fourth game on and took his team all the way to the California state juco championship game.
In his first start, Kendrick completed 14 of 21 passes for 263 yards and threw touchdowns without throwing an interception. He rushed for 84 yards on 10 carries and was on his way.
Kendrick wasn’t KU’s first choice. When it became obvious to the KU coaching staff that Texas high school standout Clayton Tune merely was using Kansas to get better offers, he was scratched off the list. Lindsey Scott, Jr., a 5-11 dual-threat QB from East Mississippi CC, visited Kansas but didn’t sign during the early period, which meant he was going elsewhere.
Kendrick will have a chance to show during spring football whether he has the arm strength to make the throws favored by offensive coordinator Doug Meacham. If Miles can beat out Peyton Bender and Carter Stanley, great. If not, he could always spend a year as a redshirt, spending four-and-a-half years at Kansas. Either way, his addition to the class means that the coaching staff doesn’t have to force the issue in making sure a high school quarterback is part of this recruiting class.
At this point, not as many prospects are available as in the Class of 2019, so might as well delay that a year. Best guess as to how many scholarships KU has left this season: Four. Why waste one on a high school quarterback unless a must-have prospect surfaces?
KU will have a senior (Bender), junior (Stanley) and two sophomores (Kendrick and Tyriek Starks) on scholarship in 2018, and four is the right number to have on a roster.
Obviously, without better blocking and fewer receiver drops, it will be tough for any QB to get much accomplished this coming season.
