Dylan Edwards already has the kind of speed that jumps off the field. He brought an official 4.38 40-yard dash from high school and once hit 22.9 miles per hour at an Adidas camp, the sort of burst that has produced big plays and long runs at both Colorado and Kansas State.
Now at Kansas, though, the challenge isn’t just running fast. It’s learning how to run fast inside a system that demands a lot from the backfield, and running backs coach Jonathan Wallace has made that a daily test during fall camp. Every morning and night, Wallace sends his backs a quiz through My Just Play, the app created by Just Play Sports Solutions, to check their grasp of calls, formations, shifts and motions.
That kind of mental work matters in Andy Kotelnicki’s offense, where knowing the details can be just as important as raw speed. For Edwards, the payoff is simple: if he understands the playbook quicker, he can play quicker.
"Coach gives us quizzes at night, and we all reference that," Edwards said. "In the morning it comes, and we're real fresh on it.
So I'm just coming and trying to be a sponge and know every play before I go out there. It would make me play faster."
Wallace sees it as part of the job. As one of the longest-tenured coaches on the Kansas staff, he described his role as that of a teacher, always looking for ways to help players succeed. With Edwards, that teaching can extend well beyond traditional backfield work.
The receiving side of Edwards’ game is already part of the story. In his first two college seasons, he caught 55 passes for 432 yards and six touchdowns. Wallace said Wednesday that this is the area where Edwards has improved the most, and it fits naturally with how Kansas wants to use him.
"He is dynamic in the backfield, and it's really exciting when we split him out," Wallace said. "His ability to separate, his ability to run routes, his ability to catch the ball down the field, which you would like to be able to see someone like him be able to do. It just makes you that much more explosive."
Wallace wasn’t done there.
"Don't get me started if him and you know another running back is out there," Wallace added.
That’s another wrinkle Kansas can explore, with Edwards potentially lining up alongside a Yasin Willis or a Jalen Dupree. Wallace pointed back to the way Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw worked together in multi-back looks as an example of the kind of stress that can put on a defense.
Edwards says that’s exactly the kind of challenge he wants. He understands the offense is built to keep defenses guessing, and he’s willing to take on whatever Kotelnicki and Wallace ask of him.
"In this offense [we] try to keep defenses thinking," Edwards said. "[Whatever] Coach Kotelnicki and Coach Wallace throw at me, I'm going to try to engage that and be a sponge, and try to show it on the field."
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