Kansas Football: Not having Pooka Williams will make it tough to win

Pooka Williams opted out of the 2020 season and now Kansas football will have a really tough time winning a game.

The Kansas Jayhawks were dealt a heavy blow when running back Pooka Williams made the difficult decision to opt out of the 2020 season. Williams made this decision because of personal reasons and in doing so, it definitely makes it tougher sledding for the Jayhawks to win a game in the shortened 2020 season.

Now don’t get me wrong, Williams has every reason to make this decision. Any player who doesn’t feel the risk is worth it this year should opt out. Les Miles agreed with this sentiment, as a good head coach should. Williams has a pro career awaiting him next year and he should hear his name called at some point during the 2021 NFL Draft.

Williams had 51 carries for 196 yards and two touchdowns in what looks to be his final season with KU. The Jayhawks weren’t able to get any wins with Williams on the field and now it’s going to be much more difficult to avoid going winless this season.

It won’t be easy for Kansas football to move the ball on offense.

The Jayhawks have had a tough enough time moving the ball as it is, but without Williams being there is going to make it even tougher. KU still has Velton Gardner at running back, but they went from having two lethal running backs to now losing their best player on their entire roster.

Here’s the rest of Kansas’ schedule moving forward:

• at Kansas State
• Iowa State
• at Oklahoma
• Texas
• TCU
• at Texas Tech

As of now, the next two opponents on KU’s schedule are ranked and then the two after that are teams who many pegged to win the Big 12 prior to the season. The only game I’d realistically give Kansas a shot to win is their season finale against Texas Tech. I’m not fully confident in that, of course, as it’s a road game and the Jayhawks haven’t played well against their conference foes on the road.

That being said, KU did take down Texas Tech last year, so they know that’s a team they can beat. They’ve played TCU tough in the past too and given the Horned Frogs quite a few scares in recent years, so that’s worth mentioning too.

Pooka Williams is a very talented running back and while it wasn’t looking good for Kansas football to win a game even with him on the field, it’s going to be a steeper task without him.