There’s no shortage of arm talent in the Big 12 these days.
Next season alone, the Big 12 will feature some of the country’s best quarterback talent between Noah Fifita, returning to Arizona for a fifth season, and Brendan Sorsby, filling the hole left by Behren Morton, headed for the NFL, at Texas Tech. Morton and Baylor‘s Sawyer Robinson are two mid-to-late rounders prepping for the upcoming NFL Draft, kicking off Thursday, April 23, outside Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
One school in the Big 12 hasn’t seen a quarterback taken since the Challenger disaster – it’s Kansas.
In 1986, the Cleveland Browns selected Kansas Jayhawk and Los Angeles native Mike Norseth in the seventh round with the 174th overall pick. For 40 years, no other Kansas quarterback has heard their name called in such fashion.
Later this month, another by California product by the name of Jalon Daniels could very well end that drought should one of multiple interested franchises make the call. Daniels recently found himself in the press for extended talks with the New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs.
Daniels and the Draft Process
Daniels is largely considered a late-round pick, but his draft stock has only rose since the end of his sixth season at Kansas. A bit of an enigma in today’s landscape, Daniels neglected to transfer and maxed out his eligibility with Lance Leipold, who took the lowly Jayhawks from disastrous to competitive in as little as two seasons.
That turnaround, though, saw Daniels miss much of the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to seperate injuries, and instead Jason Bean, who signed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2024, actually lead Kansas to its first bowl win since 2008.
Daniels, receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr.; offensive lineman Enrique Cruz Jr. and Kobe Baynes all have legitimate expectations to see the league after their respective careers. But for Daniels, to be picked in the draft would speak volumes about his own trajectory considering where Kansas was nationally when he first arrived back in 2020.
Kansas had won just seven conference games since 2009 when Leipold stepped onto the scene.
Who Else Came Close?
Bill Whittemore, 2004: Whittemore signed with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2004, and ultimately spend a short while with the practice squad before trying his talents in the Arena Football League. Whittemore threw for 4,051 yards, 29 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in two seasons as a Jayhawk.
Todd Reesing, 2010: A fan favorite, Reesing, still considered the best quarterback in Kansas history with 11,194 passing yards and 90 touchdowns as a Jayhawk, entered the NFL Draft conversation as undersized and ultimately went undrafted. He’d play a briefly with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.
Dayne Crist, 2013: Crist, who transferred to Kansas from Notre Dame in 2012, played just 10 games in his lone season as a Jayhawk, but he did sign with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2013. Crist, who missed most of his junior season with the Irish due to injury, threw for 1,313 yards and four touchdowns in his final year of college ball.
Jason Bean, 2024: Bean is the latest Jayhawk to sign undrafted, and he’d see legit time in the 2024 and 2025 NFL preseasons with the Colts before missing the roster for that latter season. Instead, Bean, originally the No. 1 overall pick by the Memphis Showboats in the 2024 UFL Draft, returned to the spring developmental league, where he’s currently the full-time starting quarterback for the Louisville Kings.
