WATCH: Brian Hanni talks College Football Playoffs, Jason Bean's legacy and more on K-Nation
LAWRENCE (KSNT) - Voice of the Jayhawks Brian Hanni has had a front row seat to Kansas football's incredible turnaround.
Hanni joined K-Nation's Landon Reinhardt at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City ahead of men's basketball's win over Wichita State to talk about the football team's bowl win.
Reinhardt opened with asking the change between a 2022 Liberty Bowl loss and a 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl win.
"It's night and day different and three more wins to boot," Hanni said. "You're talking about a 15-win stretch in two years. To put that in perspective, the previous eight Kansas seasons, Landon, added up to just 14 wins."
With the College Football Playoff set to include 12 teams in the 2023-24 season rather than four, Hanni is bullish on the Jayhawks' possibilities of the tournament.
"This was largely a junior-laden team in 2023," Hanni said. "If you get the vast majority of those guys back, this will be one of the most experienced teams in America and a group that's been winning with that experience as well. That means everything is on the table...if you win the league on the year that the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, you could have possible inclusion there."
Kansas quarterback Jason Bean decided to stay in Lawrence for his final season despite coming in as the number two guy behind Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Jalon Daniels. When Daniels went out with injury, Bean stepped up.
A six-touchdown Guaranteed Rate Bowl performance completed Bean's full-circle playing career. Reinhardt asked Hanni what Bean's legacy could be for Kansas fans.
"The en vogue thing is to blame the coach who didn't pick you for the starting job and go play for somebody who will," Hanni said. "Jason did just the opposite. He swam upstream when everybody else would have told him to leave...whatever comes in the future, we're just so glad he came back."
The full interview with Hanni can be watched above. K-Nation airs every Sunday night on KSNT. Click here for more K-Nation content.