Throughout the 2022 football offseason, people in all circles — athletes, fans, media, etc. — spent a fair amount of time wondering if the KU coaching staff would move Jason Bean to wide receiver, hoping to watch him make the transition to a new position the way Kerry Meier did more than a decade earlier.
It never happened. Bean was used at receiver here and there, but most often as a part of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s gimmick plays that either moved Bean in motion to attract attention or led to him receiving the ball via handoff or pitch to either run or throw it.
KU’s coaching staff believed, rightly so, that Bean staying at quarterback was the best thing for the Kansas offense because it protected them against an injury to starter Jalon Daniels.
That planning proved to be pure genius when Daniels got hurt in Week 5 and Bean spent the next month as KU’s starter, winning just enough to get KU to a bowl game.
So, now, [with Bean announcing last Friday that he’ll be returning to KU for the 2023 season,][1] the question about his future position is starting to surface once again.
It seems possible that the answer could come down to one simple thing — how ready is Ethan Vasko to be a viable option for the Jayhawks as a back-up to Daniels?
If the answer is very ready, the KU coaching staff could feel more comfortable moving Bean elsewhere to take advantage of his speed and athleticism while still having him available as an emergency QB if needed.
If the answer is Vasko’s not any more ready than he was this season, then KU might need Bean to fill the exact same role he filled in 2022, maybe with a few more gimmick snaps mixed in but spending most of his time in the quarterback room.
There’s at least some reason to believe Vasko could be in better shape to be KU’s back-up in 2023.
For one, he’s a year older and has another full season in the program under his belt.
For two, he spent a handful of weeks as Bean’s back-up this season, giving him opportunity to learn, grow and develop while knowing he was just one play away from going in at all times.
Vasko did actually go in late in KU’s loss to Texas Tech, completing 3 of 5 passes for 13 yards and rushing for another 6 yards on two carries. It didn’t do much to help KU’s chances of winning the game, but it did enough to earn at least a little praise from Leipold, who said he liked the way Vasko flashed during his limited time in the game and showed that being put in that position was not too much for him.
“It was a small, small sample size,” Leipold said a couple of days after Vasko’s debut. “But there were some flashes of Ethan Vasko that I was very, very pleased with for his first college experience. That shows he’s going to be a good quarterback.”
How good and how fast could determine what Kansas can and can’t do with Bean during his final season of college football.
[1]: https://www2.kusports.com/news/2023/jan/06/ku-quarterback-jason-bean-announces-plan-return-ka/
