LAWRENCE — Kansas football’s quarterback position garners a lot of attention because of Jalon Daniels, and for good reason.

Daniels, a redshirt junior this fall, is set to be the Jayhawks’ starting quarterback in 2024. He’s landed on a number of preseason watch lists for national awards, including the Davey O'Brien Award — given annually to the best quarterback in college. As KU chases a Big 12 Conference Championship, much of that potential is connected to Daniels.

But given the fact Daniels’ past two seasons as a starter for Kansas have been limited by injury, the importance of a reliable backup becomes all the more important. Jason Bean held that role in both 2022 and 2023, as he helped the Jayhawks reach back-to-back bowl games, but he’s off to a professional career now. And as redshirt freshman quarterback Cole Ballard readies to assume that role in 2024, there’s one area of his game he’s focusing on most to improve during fall camp.

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“Decision-making,” said Ballard, who played his high school football in Indiana for Westfield High School. “Getting the ball out of my hand fast. Making the right play at the right time, not trying to do too much.”

Ballard is no stranger to game experience, despite the fact he’s only weeks away from the start of just his second season in college. An injury to Bean in 2023 thrust Ballard into action in November against Texas Tech, and meant he’d start the next week against rival Kansas State. Although Kansas ended up losing both of those games, both were one-possession contests and Ballard impressed a lot of people with his poise and toughness.

The three interceptions Ballard threw across four appearances last season do stand out, in a year he also finished with 286 yards passing a touchdown through the air. Even now, there are moments that stick out to him from his true freshman year that center on being careful with the football. But as he’s continued to develop he’s been able to notice how much progress he made from the fall of 2023 to the spring of 2024, and from this past spring to the fall.

Co-offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski also wants Ballard to work on staying loose, so Ballard can make off-platform throws when ready. Zebrowski also wants Ballard to work on throwing the ball only as hard as Ballard needs to for each situation, and understanding when and when not to try to run someone over when Ballard takes off with the ball and runs. Both are opportunities for Ballard to take his play to the next level, as he showcases a competitive nature redshirt junior quarterback Ben Easters noticed when the two first met.

“Cole’s an extremely competitive guy,” said Easters, who played high school football in the state of Indiana at Brownsburg High School. “He’s really fiery and he’s got a strong personality, but really he’s a caring, loving guy, and you can tell by the way he treats people, the way he talks to people in the facility, the way he talks to not only other players but coaches, trainers, equipment staff, all of that — just a really good, all-around guy. And he comes from a great family, too.”

Of course, Ballard will have to earn the backup role over freshman quarterback Isaiah Marshall. Marshall, who enrolled early at Kansas and went through spring ball this year, has also impressed the coaching staff. As head coach Lance Leipold has said, Marshall has an even-keel approach to the game to the point Leipold thinks if you put a camera on Marshall it’d be unclear if a play went well or not.

But the Jayhawks have a program that promotes competition, and Ballard said this battle has brought out the best in both himself and Marshall. Both players are guys Zebrowski said can pick things up quickly. And those two are part of why Zebrowski feels he has the best quarterbacks room in the country because everyone is pulling for each other even as they compete to play.

“It’s great,” Ballard said. “We have such a healthy competition, everybody’s pushing each other. Obviously, adding (Marshall) in adds so much talent to that room and as we saw last year, you need — you’re going to need three quarterbacks over the pace of the season. So, just having him be ready because, I mean, that — we don’t know what the season’s going to look like. So, just being there for him, helping him, coaching him up and pushing Jalon along the way.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football: QB Cole Ballard focusing on decision-making this fall