The Kansas football team will open the 2026 season in just 43 days, and the identity of KU’s starting quarterback remains unknown.
This much you know.
You also know the names of the players who are most likely to win the job.
And you probably even have an opinion on whether fourth-year junior Cole Ballard or third-year sophomore Isaiah “Zeke” Marshall should get the nod as KU’s first starting QB in the post-Jalon Daniels era, which began in 2020.
Before we go any further, it’s worth noting that Rice transfer Chase Jenkins, another athletic and experienced option, is battling back from injury to work his way into the mix, as well. It’s unlikely that he’ll have a chance to win the starting job out of the gate, but he figures to bring value in other ways.
While the uncertainty might make some of you uncomfortable, taking this thing into preseason camp has been the plan all along for the Jayhawks this offseason.
And neither Ballard nor Marshall is even a little bit upset about it because, no matter what happens, the two veteran backups have seen firsthand on a handful of occasions that teams typically need more than one QB to contribute during the course of any given season.
That was their reminder to one another last December, when they had a brief conversation about what comes next early on in winter workouts following the end of the 2025 season.
“This is the stuff you dream about, being able to compete to be a starting quarterback at a Power 4 school.”
— KU junior Cole Ballard
“It was sort of a given,” Ballard told R1S1 Sports when asked about the specifics of that chat. “But we knew we had to step up. We’re both gonna have a chance to impact this team, and we both have to be at our best at all times for us to win games.”
That shared responsibility was something that Marshall said had been in place for him and Ballard even in recent years.
Sure, they knew that Daniels was the starter, or even Jason Bean before that. But they still viewed it as their jobs to stay ready, get better and do whatever they could to both help and push Daniels get better, as well.
“We were still competing,” Marshall told R1S1 Sports when discussing the transition to this year’s QB battle. “Even with JD. We talk all the time, like, this team is gonna depend on us. One of us is gonna be the QB, of course, but at the end of the day, we both have to make it right.”
That shared point of view has helped both quarterbacks keep their heads down and focus on the work rather than worry about when the winner of the job will be revealed.
From the day KU coach Lance Leipold arrived in Lawrence, the program’s mantra has been to get 1% better every day. And that’s still the goal of both of these guys, even while chasing the title of starting quarterback.
So, there’s enough there to keep them busy without spending much time thinking about the competition or when the coaches might call it.
“I mean, everybody would obviously like to know,” Ballard conceded. “But we’re not gonna change how we go about our day to day. Me and Zeke have been doing this for two years.”
Added KU quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski: “To have two guys who have played and have reps in live settings is awesome. It's been really fun. It's been a blast.”
Finding the joy in the competition has also helped. Ballard called Marshall one of his best friends, and Marshall said the respect and support the two have for each other is off-the-charts good and won’t change just because the stakes have.
“I knew this point would come,” Marshall said when thinking back to joining the program as a true freshman in 2024. “So, I’m gonna just keep competing and whatever happens happens.”
Not surprisingly, Ballard shared a similar mindset and said it was not hard for either quarterback to keep their focus right there because of how much fun they’ve had in taking this next step.
“This is the stuff you dream about,” Ballard said. “Being able to compete to be a starting quarterback at a Power 4 school.”
One of these guys will get that opportunity in 43 days. And before the calendar flips to 2027, it’s possible that both of them will get the chance.
With camp opening the first week of August and the season opener against Long Island slated for Friday, Sept. 4, just don’t expect to know which one of them will be first in the pecking order for at least another 3-5 weeks.
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