‘Taste of winning’ changing Kansas expectations ahead of 2023 football season

LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) - There’s a buzz in the Kansas football program as the Jayhawks round out fall camp ahead of a highly-anticipated 2023 season.

With two weeks remaining in the preseason for head coach Lance Leipold and company, Kansas hosted its media day Wednesday. The Jayhawks recently opened a new weight and locker room, and Tuesday the school announced plans for major stadium renovations.

READ MORE: KU unveils plans for renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium

“None of these are going to win us games,” Leipold said Wednesday, “until we go out and do it. But it does change the perception of how this program is looked at and what we do.”

On the field, expectations are at a decade-plus high. The Jayhawks came in ninth in the Big 12 preseason poll, their highest slot since 2010, after rolling to a 5-0 start and their first top-25 ranking since 2009 during last season.

“A taste of winning does change how you carry yourself and what you go about,” Leipold said. “It makes you hungrier to go out and get it and I think our upperclassmen have done a great job with that.”

As the program’s first-ever Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, quarterback Jalon Daniels is setting the bar high for KU.

“Big 12 Championship, absolutely,” Daniels said of expectations. “That’s the team goal and my personal goal. If we get there that’s a goal accomplished, absolutely.”

“Games are usually decided between three-to-five plays,” Leipold said. “When you really break it down. It’s a fine line for us and we have to embrace that. Some people think we’re going to be up here and some people think we’re going to hang at the bottom of the conference.”

Kansas gets its season underway Sept. 1 with a Friday night home game against Missouri State.

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