Tuesday, Turner Gill said he was hoping to find the right guy at quarterback for Kansas.
Wednesday, Gill pinned his hopes for now on a new guy being the right guy.
Gill announced this afternoon that he was pulling opening-game starter Kale Pick from the top of the depth chart and inserting Jordan Webb. The redshirt freshman will start Saturday’s home game against No. 15 Georgia Tech.
“I just thought that right now, if you look at the things that happened in the last game and overall at what’s going on, we thought he would give us the best opportunity at this point in time,” Gill said according to the Lawrence Journal-World. “We feel good about what he’s done and right now he deserves to get his opportunity.”
Webb and Pick had battled throughout spring practice and into summer before Gill named Pick as the starter midway through camp. A season-opening loss to 1-AA North Dakota State -- by the score of 6-3 no less -- prompted Gill and his coaching staff to reevaluate the position.
Webb, who will be starting his first game at the collegiate level, is hoping he can take the job and run with it.
“Maybe he thought I’d give us a chance to do something special on offense and hopefully that’s the case,” Webb said. “Obviously I’m excited. That’s what I wanted all along, that’s what everyone wants, everyone wants to be the starter. And hopefully it’s something I can make the most of and run with.”
With the quarterback position addressed, at least for the moment, the Jayhawks should now turn their offensive attention to taking their best running back and moving him from linebacker back into the backfield.
Even given their below-lackluster running game effort in the opener, though, that doesn’t appear likely.