The David Beaty era at Kansas will come to an end following the conclusion of the 2018 season, KU athletic director Jeff Long announced Sunday. A 6-39 record was his undoing, but there are a number of recruiting-related factors that fed into the on-field issues.
39 – Number of players on scholarship when Beaty arrived at Kansas
This is the challenge that went under-appreciated for much of Beaty’s tenure. Through high attrition rates and a heavy reliance on JUCO recruiting over his final years as Kansas’ head coach, Charlie Weis left the cupboard almost bare. Consider that most Power Five programs are butting up against that 85 max scholarship number most of the time; Kansas did not have even half of those numbers during Beaty’s first spring leading the program.
Beaty would go on to sign 99 players over four classes and stated this past summer the program had finally hit the 70 scholarship players mark, but also said it would be at least three more years before Kansas was able to field a full roster of 85 scholarship players. After graduation and the natural attrition that comes with a coaching change, paired with no base from which to work with in this 2019 class for the next Kansas head coach, that timetable is likely to be further delayed.
1 – Current class of 2019 commitments for Kansas
When Beaty’s impending dismissal was announced on Sunday, Kansas had just one prospect on its 2019 commitment list: Wentzville (Kan.) Holt two-star running back Cole Mueller. The Jayhawks had previous commitments from four-star quarterback Lance Legendre and three-star tight end Clay Cundiff, but Legendre re-opened his recruitment in the summer and Cundiff flipped his commitment to Wisconsin last month.
At Big 12 media days in July, Beaty said he was unconcerned about the low number of commitments in the 2019 class at the time and that they could have more but were more focused on getting “the right ones.” Exactly what that plan entailed was not elaborated on, but it never came to fruition.
5 – Current starters who were four-star high school prospects
Over the course of his four recruiting classes in Lawrence, Beaty signed a total of four four-star prospects and all of them are current starters, including true freshmen Pooka Williams at running back and Corione Harris at cornerback. Kevin Feder is a starter at offensive tackle and he was a four-star prospect who signed with Ohio State out of high school before transferring to Kansas. Beaty showed the ability to recruit four-star talent and the cream rose to the top when it arrived in Lawrence, but those prospects were too few and far between to translate into enough wins to save his job.
47 – Percent of Beaty’s signees rated two-stars
The two-star designation is considered a mid-major or Group of Five caliber prospect, but nearly half of the prospects signed during Beaty’s tenure were rated at that level. That partly explains why the Jayhawks were 2-31 in conference play and 4-37 against FBS competition over the past four seasons. The lack of roster depth we highlighted earlier forced Beaty to throw numbers at the problem in an effort to bolster overall talent, and two-stars are generally going to be better players than walk-ons. Just six of those two-star prospects signed by Beaty are starters on the current Kansas team.
12 – Kansas starters in their final season of eligibility
Six offensive starters and six defensive starters are playing their last seasons for the Jayhawks. This includes quarterback Peyton Bender, leading receiver Steven Sims Jr., leading tackler Joe Dineen Jr., and Kansas’ top pass rusher in Daniel Wise.
Like Weis before him, Beaty had to sign JUCOs or attract transfers due to immediate needs, and eight of the 12 starters in their last year with the program came to Kansas via transfer, either from junior college or another program. This further underscores the importance of 2019 recruiting for the next head coach, and also highlights the extraordinary challenge that individual will face.
