A year after his still-hard-to-believe-he-actually-said-that "pile of crap" comment at 2013 Big 12 Media Days, Charlie Weis' Kansas Jayhawks still look like a pile of.... the same stuff they looked like last year.
"We haven't done a thing since I've been here," Weis said Monday. Four wins against 20 losses. One Big 12 win in 18 tries. Zero wins away from Lawrence. Weis knows all the stats. He also knows that has to change, soon, or change will be forced upon him.
Asked if he had any expectations for his third season as Kansas' head coach, Weis said, "I think it's really, really important that your team's expectations must be clearly defined. For me to get up here and say 'this is what my expectations are for you' would not be smart. But our team clearly knows what our expectations are."
Weis went back to the drawing board this off-season, hiring John Reagan away from Rice to serve as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, and naming Montrell Cozart as his team's starting quarterback well in advance of fall camp all in hopes of igniting an offense that placed last in the conference in total offense, yards per play, scoring offense, total touchdowns (a whopping 15 less than ninth-place Iowa State, and 69 fewer than league leader Baylor), passing offense, passing efficiency, first downs and red zone offense.
Weis will still be involved in the day-to-day of the Jayhawk attack, but more in a consulting role. "My involvement with the offense will take place during the week," Weis said. "I will not be involved in game day. I'm in a different route. I'm more of an advisor right now. I like to think I'm a good person for him to use as a sounding board. I'll stay out of the way on game days." His only role in play calling, Weis says, will be to jump in with suggestions if Kansas is getting hammered in the run game, for example.
Cozart, a true sophomore that threw just 63 passes against 66 rushes last season, appears entrenched as the Jayhawks starter, mostly because Weis sounded like a coach that has played his last drop-back quarterback. Part of that is philosophical: "Anytime you don't have a mobile quarterback, you're playing 11-on-10 football. The quarterback being one of the guys that can carry the ball puts much more stress on the defense."
But mostly, it's out of necessity. Kansas just isn't good enough anywhere else. "I think the true dropback quarterbacks have gotten exposed. The only position you could say have been a true Big 12-caliber have been running back," he said. "When you're playing with marginal talent everywhere but running back, you get exposed. A mobile quarterback hides a lot of sins. We've got to score more points to win more games."