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2024 was a relatively disappointing season for Kansas football. After a 2023 where the Jayhawks emerged as a rising power in the Big 12, expectations were through the roof for Lance Leipold and company heading into the season. With many of their starters returning, Kansas was expected to compete for a Big 12 title.
The season didn't go as planned. Kansas finished 5-7 on the year, going out with a whimper in a blowout loss against Baylor with a chance to clinch bowl eligibility. Quarterback Jalon Daniels struggled with turnovers throughout the season but came on strong in the final month of the year.
It turns out Daniels has some unfinished business. He will be back as the starting QB for Kansas in 2025, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
“Sources: Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels has agreed to a new deal to stay with the Jayhawks for 2025, his final college season,” Daniels reported on X, formerly Twitter. “In his five years in Lawrence, he’s thrown for 6,751 yards and 45 touchdowns.”
Daniels finished this season with 2,454 yards passing and 447 yards rushing. He scored 20 total touchdowns during the season and threw 12 interceptions. With him back in the fold, Kansas will be one of the favorites to compete for a conference title once again in 2025.
Getting Jalon Daniels back a huge boost for Kansas
Despite the ups and downs of the Kansas offense, and the team as a whole, Jalon Daniels showed what made him one of the most talked-abut quarterbacks in the Big 12 coming into the season. Kansas caught fire as a team in the month of November, nearly doing enough to salvage a 2-6 start to the season and still reach a bowl game.
Kansas plated spoiler for a number of teams and shook up the top of the Big 12 all by itself down the stretch of the season. The Jayhawks knocked off Iowa State, BYU and Colorado in successive weeks before all three eventually finished in a tie for first place in the league. As it turns out, the losses to Kansas cost both BYU and Colorado a spot in the conference championship game.
Now, the dual-threat QB is back for another season with the Jayhawks, and his presence transforms Kansas from a team that was likely going to be in a transitional year to a team that can compete in a conference that didn't have a dominant team in 2024. A lot of the QBs in the league will be gone next year, including Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, which means Daniels will likely enter the season as one of the best signal callers in the conference.
If Daniels lives up to that billing, it will make Kansas very hard to stop next year. Combine that with Lance Leipold's history of winning at all levels, and this has a chance to be a very dangerous team next season.
