Kansas Football 2012: Dayne Crist Is The Quarterback To Beat, But Then What?

The Charlie Weis era in Lawrence has begun as expected - with the former Notre Dame coach and longtime offensive coordinator naming former Irish QB Dayne Crist his starter

ESPN Big 12 blogger David Ubben profiles the quarterback race at KU, with Weis praising Crist almost as much as BYU transfer Jake Heaps, who can't play in 2012 due to transfer issues:

"Heaps is leaps and bounds ahead of the other quarterbacks in the program; it’s not close," Weis said. "How am I going to get him ready to play here in the program knowing that he can’t play in the games next year? When you’re getting your teams ready to play in the summertime, how many reps can you really get him?"

But what about the backups? Clearly Weis has done little to stoke the fires of competing for the starting job, but someone will have to back up Crist this fall. Three names - Michael Cummings, Blake Jablonski and incoming freshman Turner Baty will vie for the No. 2 job.

For his part, Weis doesn't sound exactly focused on the matter of an understudy:

"We have a lot of options right now, but this has got to be the time that Jake gets his time because he doesn’t have time once we get to the summer," Weis said.

For more on the Kansas Jayhawks, check out Rock Chalk Talk and SB Nation's college football news page.

2012 Kansas Spring Football: Spring Depth Chart Announced

New Kansas Jayhawks head coach Charlie Weis announced the team's spring football depth chart today in a press conference. He also let it be known that this depth chart was created before the team had a single practice and that seniority and experience played a large role in creating it.

From KUSports.com:

Offense:

LT Tanner Hawkinson, 6-5, 295, Sr.
Chad Kolumber, 6-6, 318, Soph.

LG Duane Zlatnik, 6-4, 311, Sr.
Damon Martin, 6-3, 295, RS-Fr.

C Trevor Marrongelli, 6-3, 300, Sr.
Dylan Admire 6-3, 277, RS-Fr.

RG Gavin Howard, 6-4, 292, Jr.
Luke Luhrsen, 6-3, 305, RS-Fr.

RT Riley Spencer, 6-6, 305, Jr.
Bryan Peters, 6-3, 302, RS-Fr.

TE (Y) Jimmay Mundine, 6-2, 240, Soph.
Trent Smiley, 6-4, 248, Soph.

WR (X) Kale Pick, 6-1, 205, Sr.
Justin McCay, 6-2, 215, Soph.
Chris Omigie, 6-4, 202, Jr.

WR (Z) Daymond Patterson, 5-8, 178, Sr.
D.J. Beshears 5-9, 185, Sr.
JaCorey Shepherd 5-11, 185, Soph.

F (21) Nick Sizemore 6-0, 238, Jr.
Ed Fink 6-2, 237, Soph.

HB James Sims, 6-0, 202, Jr.
Tony Pierson, 5-10, 170, Soph.
Brandon Bourbon, 6-1, 220, Soph.

QB Dayne Crist, 6-4, 235, Sr.
Jake Heaps, 6-1, 208, Jr.

F (11) Beshears
Marquis Jackson, 6-0, 218, Soph.

F (12) Smiley

Y (10) Pick
Christian Matthews, 6-1, 200, Jr.

Defense:

DE Keba Agostinho, 6-3, 275, Jr.
Ben Goodman, 6-3, 248, RS-Fr.

NT Shane Smith, 6-5, 292, Jr.
Randall Dent, 6-4, 305, Jr.
John Williams, 6-3, 298, Jr.

DT Pat Lewandowski, 6-6, 248, Soph.
Julius Green, 6-5, 265, RS-Fr.
Kevin Young, 6-3, 277, Jr.

DE Toben Opurum, 6-1, 245, Sr.
Josh Richardson, 6-4, 235, Sr.

SAM Tunde Bakare, 5-10, 205, Sr.
Michael Reynolds, 6-1, 220, Soph.

MIKE Darius Willis, 6-3, 243, Jr.
Tyler Hunt, 6-2, 226, Sr.

WILL Huldon Tharp, 6-0, 220, Jr.
Collin Garrett, 6-0, 210, Soph.

CB Tyler Patmon, 5-11, 180, Jr.
Dexter Linton, 5-10, 201, Jr.

SS Lubbock Smith, 5-10, 197, Sr.
Ray Mitchell 6-1, 185, Soph.

FS Bradley McDougald, 6-1, 210, Sr.
Victor Simmons 6-1, 201, Soph.

CB Greg Brown, 5-10, 185, Sr.
Chris Robinson, 5-9, 170, RS-Fr.
Corrigan Powell, 5-10, 174, Sr.

Special Teams:

PK Alex Mueller 5-8, 162, Soph.
Ron Doherty 5-11, 215, Jr.

P Doherty
Victor McBride 6-1, 204, Jr.

LS Tanner Gibas 6-1, 196, Soph.
Justin Carnes 6-1, 241, Jr.

For more on the Jayhawks, head to Rock Chalk Talk, and for more updates on spring football, follow SB Nation Kansas City's StoryStream.

2012 Kansas Spring Football: Jayhawks Begin Charlie Weis Era

The Kansas Jayhawks kickoff spring football.