After a heartbreaking loss to UCF, Kansas football turns the page quickly and heads to West Virginia for a Saturday road matchup. The Jayhawks enter at 3-6 and tied for 14th in the Big 12, while the Mountaineers sit at 5-4 and tied for eighth. If Kansas is going to leave with a better result, these West Virginia players could shape the game.
Michael Hawkins Jr. is the name that jumps out first. The Oklahoma transfer has settled in as West Virginia’s quarterback and has put up 101 completions on 175 attempts for 1,901 yards, 12 touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s also been a major weapon on the ground, ranking second on the team with 924 rushing yards while leading the FBS with 19 rushing touchdowns this season.
That rushing threat is what makes Hawkins so dangerous. He has gone over 100 rushing yards three times and scored three rushing touchdowns in each of those games, doing it in the 38-27 win over Virginia on Sept. 19, the 41-24 loss to Oklahoma State on Sept. 26 and last week’s 53-48 loss to Texas Tech.
Kansas has been better against the run over its last three games, but Hawkins will test that improvement if the Jayhawks don’t make stopping the ground game the priority. Through the air, West Virginia’s offense is not as explosive, even with Kansas’ secondary having its own issues.
The other major problem for Kansas is Cam Cook. The running back began at TCU, spent two seasons there, then transferred to Jacksonville State, where he piled up 1,659 yards and 16 touchdowns in one year. Now at West Virginia, the Round Rock, Texas, native leads the Mountaineers with 209 carries for 1,072 yards and eight touchdowns.
Cook has topped 100 rushing yards in six of West Virginia’s nine games. He also has multiple two-touchdown games, doing that in the 31-24 win over Coastal Carolina on Sept. 5, the 45-42 loss to Iowa State on Oct. 3 and the 52-31 loss to Arizona on Oct.
- Among FBS running backs, he ranks eighth in rushing yards.
Even if Kansas slows Hawkins, Cook gives West Virginia another punishing option and could be the toughest back the Jayhawks have seen since Utah’s Wayshawn Parker.
West Virginia’s passing game has a focal point too in DJ Epps. The former Troy receiver doesn’t have a huge catch total, but he leads the team with 23 receptions for 564 yards and five touchdowns.
He posted more than 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 52-7 win over UT Martin on Sept. 12, against Iowa State and in the 45-42 win over Cincinnati on Oct. 17.
He also caught two touchdowns against Virginia.
If West Virginia can’t get its run game rolling, or if Kansas’ defensive backs struggle again, Epps could see his role grow even more.
On the other side of the ball, Isaiah Patterson has become West Virginia’s leading tackler in his sophomore season after starting his college career at UNLV. He has 56 tackles, two sacks and one interception.
Patterson made 12 tackles against Virginia and eight apiece against UT Martin and Texas Tech, while his sacks came against Coastal Carolina and in the 24-20 win over TCU on Oct. 24.
Kansas may actually have the edge in run defense, at least by the numbers. The Jayhawks allow 157.8 rushing yards per game, while West Virginia gives up 178.2. Kansas’ offense averages 201.2 rushing yards, so Patterson’s job against the Jayhawks’ ground game - including Dylan Edwards and Isaiah Marshall - will matter.
Another defender worth watching is Geimere Latimer II. He has a football résumé that includes Jacksonville State and Wisconsin before arriving at West Virginia, and he’s tied for third on the team in tackles with safety Andrew Powdrell at 41. Latimer has also forced three fumbles.
His biggest tackle total came against TCU, when he had 12. He added six tackles against Virginia and Oklahoma State, and he forced a fumble in three straight weeks against UT Martin, Virginia and Oklahoma State. That makes him especially relevant against a Kansas offense that saw Edwards and Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman each lose a fumble last week.
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