Charlie Weis and the Kansas Jayhawks kicked off the offseason with one exciting December. Following a 1-11 season the Kansas staff hit the road recruiting and they did a tremendous job of bringing in a haul of talented prospects. As a fan of the Jayhawks it was almost easy to forget that your team finished 1-11 because the recruiting didn't reflect that of a 1-11 team. Kansas was beating out solid programs for potential immediate impact players.
Unfortunately you can't win them all and this weekend presented a mixed bag for Jayhawk football fans with the majority of the news being of the bad variety. But before we get to the bad news, how about some good news? Dayne Crist, the starting quarterback for the Jayhawks to start the 2012 season, finished his collegiate career winning the MVP award at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Carson California. Crist finished the game 7 of 10 for 61 yards and a touchdown, he also ran for one score in a 34-0 win for the National team.
Crist was the good news. The bad news was on the recruiting trail where Kansas missed on their two known remaining offensive line targets Reeve Koehler and Matt Finnin. Koehler committed to Arkansas during a visit to Fayetteville this weekend and Finnin did the same on a trip to Lincoln to visit the Cornhuskers. That means that Kansas will have one potential hole that has not been addressed at the offensive tackle spot during the coming season.
One other piece of interesting news is the departure of Turner Baty. Baty transfered to Kansas after one year of junior college ball. He redshirted this season in Lawrence and has decided to return to City College of San Francisco where he will play at the junior college level once again.
"With Jake Heaps and Michael Cummings both competing for time at the quarterback position, I have decided it would be in my best interest to go back to City College of San Francisco and get some game experience," said Baty. "I have not ruled out the idea of returning to Kansas after getting a season of play under my belt. I love it here. I love the university and my teammates and I want to thank everyone in the Jayhawk community for their support."
Baty was considered by many Jayhawk fans as the most likely backup option to Jake Heaps over the next two years and a possible replacement during his final senior season after Heaps departure. This means that, at least for now, Michael Cummings will be that guy. It's a bit of an odd move and not one you see very often, but I think it makes it pretty obvious that Heaps is the guy and will be the guy for the next two years. It does just leave some cause for concern in terms of depth.
One last side note for the Jayhawk football team. This weekend Kansas had seven seniors competing in All Star games. Tanner Hawkinson, Bradley McDougald, Toben Opurum, Trevor Marrongelli, Duane Zlatnik, Josh Williams and Daynce Crist all competed in either the Shrine Bowl or the NFLPA Bowl. Think having Charlie Weis and his connections might have helped open some of these doors? If so, I think that's a pretty good recruiting message in the future.