Lance Leipold officially names Jalon Daniels Kansas' 2024 starting quarterback

Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold announced that Jalon Daniels will be the team’s starting quarterback for the 2024 season.

“I’ll announce him as our starting quarterback,” Lance Leipold said. “He will start the opener. I’ve seen a lot of good things from Jalon Daniels in the last 10 days. He hasn’t missed anything. He’s played well and he’s confident. He’s excited. His enthusiasm is contagious. We all know it’s important for him to stay healthy but it’s good to see.”

Jalon Daniels becoming the starting quarterback at Kansas for the 2024 season isn’t a surprise. He came into the offseason expecting to earn the job after he held it before getting hurt last season.

Initially, coming to Kansas as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, Jalon Daniels has been phenomenal throughout his career for the Jayhawks. However, he has struggled at times with injuries and was, in fact, severely limited last season due to injuries. In his place, Jason Bean largely took snaps under center for Kansas, though Bean has moved on to professional football now.

Over the summer, Jalon Daniels did make sure to make it clear that he felt like he was healthy enough to get on the field again.

“Great. You know, if we had a game tomorrow, I’d be perfectly fine,” Daniels said at Big 12 Media Days. “You know, it’s definitely been a journey. You know, I try not to harp on the past too much, but you know, within the past, you have to be able to, like I said, learn from stuff, to be able to find out how to get better. So, you know, I’m just looking forward to the future, looking forward to the day-to-day process.”

Over the course of his career at Kansas, Jalon Daniels has played in 25 total games. He has a career completion percentage of 63.6 percent. He’s thrown for a total of 4,297 yards and 31 touchdowns. Daniels also ran for 602 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Lance Leipold did previously share that both Isaiah Marshall and Cole Ballard are playing well as they compete to be the team’s backup.

“They’re both playing well,” Leipold said. “Again, the early enrollment of Isaiah Marshall has definitely helped, but Cole [Ballard], again, he continues to work on the areas where he’s been. He’s got a lot of command. I’ve said it all along, I like the depth of our quarterback position.”

This season will be Jalon Daniels’ fifth in the program and his fourth being coached by Lance Leipold. In each of Kansas’ previous three seasons under Leipold, the Jayhawks improved on their win total. That culminated with a 9-4 season and a top-25 finish last year.

The first game for Kansas is going to be on August 29th, when the Jayhawks take on Lindenwood.