Does KU have Jalon Daniels 2.0 on deck in Lawrence?
LAWRENCE (KSNT) - The Jayhawks know who their starting quarterback is in 2024, without question.
Jalon Daniels will be back with a vengeance in his fifth year of college football after suffering season ending injuries in both 2022 and 2023. The Jayhawk veteran is getting live reps, and plenty of veteran reps, in spring practices while continuing to develop and get healthy.
However, when Daniels' time in Lawrence is complete, Big 12 defenses might not have a much easier time shutting down the Jayhawks. Why? Isaiah Marshall, that's why.
Marshall, a 6-foot, 205 pound quarterback will be a true freshman at KU in 2024 but he's already with the team as a spring early enrollee. Marshall is one of six new Jayhawks in the class of 2024 to join the team for spring ball.
Marshall is a proven winner, having led Michigan's Southfield A&T High School to the program's first ever state football title in his senior year. He brings energy and aggressiveness to Lawrence.
"He doesn't let things rattle him," KU head football coach Lance Leipold told reporters on Tuesday. "When he has a good play his composure and disposition is the same as when he throws one late and it might get intercepted. That's what you love about him. He continues to grasp what we're doing and gets better. Really excited about his progression and where he'll be, hopefully, by second week of August."
Marshall, while being his own player and a unique athlete in the KU quarterback room, does exhibit some similar characteristics to KU's veteran QB.
"[Isaiah is] a little bit Jalon-like," KU quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski said. "It's unfair to say that... but he's fast... not Jason Bean fast, because that's really, really fast. But he's fast."
His speed isn't the only trait he has in common with Daniels.
"[Isaiah has] a quick release," Zebrowski said. "Gets the ball out fast, can make pretty quick decisions and can make plays with his feet."
They're far from the same player, though. Zebrowski, who got a promotion to Co-Offensive Coordinator over the offseason while continuing his duties with the quarterbacks, says Marshall came in "thicker" than Daniels was as a freshman. He adds the fifth-year plays "more loose."
"Different, but the skillset is kind of in the ballpark," Zebrowski said.
The QB coach, who enters year four with Kansas, was a large part of bringing Marshall to Lawrence and perhaps an even bigger part of why the 2024 signee never waivered in his commitment to the Jayhawks despite a major staff change on the offensive side of the ball.
"At the end of the day, I knew what kind of program we had," Marshall told 27 News. "Coach [Zebrowki], I love Coach [Zebrowski.] He's a great coach. The culture here, I knew how the culture was. It just felt like home."
He further expressed his unwavering commitment to 27 News today.
"We talked a lot," Marshall said. "We talked every week, sometimes two times a week. Every time I came up here it felt more like family. Coach Z is a great guy, he's very funny. I knew when we came down here and practiced he would be more intense than he was recruiting me but I'm kind of used to that."
The KU freshman gunslinger says since arriving in Lawrence, he's learned a lot about reading cadence and how to read plays quicker.
"I learned how to say [the plays] clear and to make sure everybody is in the right spot," Marshall said.
He now works to strike a balancing act of taking notes from the experienced mentor in Daniels, while allowing himself freedom to become his own unique player.
"I balance that by just being myself but also learning, the great things that he does I can take from," Marshall said. "He always talks to me during practice. Coach Z does, too. There's times where me and him can have the same kind of juke move, or the same kind of throw."
Others in the quarterback room, including one guy who knows plenty about needing to step up as a freshman, can attest to Marshall's ability.
"Isaiah came in, he's picking things up and he's a really explosive athlete," KU rising sophomore QB Cole Ballard said. "He's so fun to watch."
Marshall was rated by Rivals as a three-star prospect and the No. 14 recruit in the state of Michigan for the 2024 class.
The freshman QB is joined by safety Damani Maxson, running backs Red Martel and Harry Stewart III, cornerback Jalen Todd and defensive end Dak Brinkley in KU's 2024 early enrollment freshman class.
Marshall chose Kansas over offers from Kentucky, West Virginia, Mississippi, Michigan and others.