One Last Run - Chapter 8 | The bye week break

With one season remaining and just one credit hour on his class schedule this semester, the time has arrived for Kansas wideout Luke Grimm to pour everything he’s got into his final season of KU football.

As he does, we’ll follow him every step of the way in this weekly diary that will chronicle Grimm’s 2024 season.

Some of what you’ll read here, in Grimm’s own words, will focus on the stuff happening between the lines — big wins, memorable catches and the grind of the season. But a lot of it will focus on Grimm the person, a 23-year-old senior who has given everything he has to the program and seen it pay off in a big way.

The Grimm File

Age: 23 | Height: 6-0 | Weight: 190 | Position: Wide Receiver

Notable: Last season, Grimm became the 16th Jayhawk to reach the 100-catch mark for his career... The senior wideout enters the 2024 season with 126 career receptions, putting him within striking distance of climbing into 4th place (155) on KU's all-time receiving chart and with an outside shot at cracking the top 3 (214 and 219)... He also is less than 300 yards away from reaching the top 5 on KU's receiving yards list... Dubbed "The Grimm Reaper" early in his career, Grimm appeared in 6 games as a true freshman and has finished each of the past three seasons in the top four in receptions, including leading the team in 2022 and finishing second last season... A 3-star recruit by Rivals.com, 247 Sports & ESPN, Grimm was ranked as the No. 7 wide receiver in the state of Missouri by Max Preps in the 2020 class.

Updating Grimm's stats/season: Through six games, Grimm leads the Jayhawks in catches (34), receiving yards (354) and receiving touchdowns (4) and has moved up to the No. 4 spot on KU's all-time receiving list with 159 career receptions. He also sits at No. 2 on KU's all-time receiving touchdowns list, with 21, and in 6th place on the all-time receiving yards list, just 26 yards shy of moving into the No. 5 spot, with No. 4 only 110 yards beyond that.

Grimm and the Jayhawks had massive goals for the 2024 season entering the year, but the 1-5 start, including three losses in conference play, has gotten things off to a rocky start.

After five consecutive losses, the Jayhawks reached the midway point of the season and a mid-season bye week that allowed them to recharge, reset and put their focus toward the section half of the 2024 season.

Here's what that looked like for Grimm.

Like the rest of the KU roster, Grimm took advantage of the week off by getting some rest, staying active and resetting his mind and body for the second half of the season.

For him, like many of his teammates, the bye week was as much a mental break as anything else.

“Every week, there’s an anticipation for Saturday. And the Sunday after the game before is like your quick mental reset – you go in, lift, watch the film, see if you have any homework, see if your family wants to go eat and then watch some NFL. And just like that it’s 9:30 p.m. and then it’s go to bed, get up and flip the page to the next week.”

Rest, reps and a review of the first half of the season consumed the early part of the week. But Grimm said the leaders on the KU roster made sure the Jayhawks got as much out of the off week as possible.

“Friday, we had a good team run, did it to the best of our ability and were disciplined; we weren’t just trying to get through it. And when we were done with that, we didn’t have anything until Sunday at like 3:15. So it was like, ‘Now I’ve got 50 hours to myself.’”

Not one to like to get too far away from the game he loves, Grimm made sure to use those 50 hours to the fullest, calling friends on Friday night and heading home to stay with his parents that night to be ready for a round of golf with mom and dad on Saturday morning followed by some couch time with friends for the Saturday slate of college football games.

Grimm considered the bye week a success because he was able to truly let his mind relax and get away from the game for those 50 hours.

“I usually go play golf with (KU QB) Ben Easters and sometimes (KU tight end) Jared Casey on Tuesdays. Usually when that happens, I call it a mental break, but I’ll be watching film while we’re driving to a ball or while I’m waiting to hit. Just because the practice film’s there, they just graded it and I just want to see what it says.”

“This weekend, when I went golfing with my parents, I didn’t touch my phone for any football reason. I just put it down and tried to enjoy the 4 or 5 hours out there. It was nice.”

How’d he play?

“It was super-windy that day. I think I shot like 88.”

“The coolest thing about the whole bye week was that none of my friends of family asked me one question or really talked much football with me at all. I don’t ever care if they do. But it was just nice to be like it’s a true bye week, we’re totally off. Even the games we were watching they didn’t ask me if I’ve played against that guy or how I think we’ll do against that team. We were just watching football like we were in high school again.

“It was really nice, but even halfway through Saturday I was like, ‘Man, I wish I was playing.’”

That will come this weekend, when the Jayhawks take on Houston at Arrowhead Stadium in KCMO. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+

When it does, Grimm and the Jayhawks promise to take a whole new approach to the final six games of the 2024 season, each of which has huge stakes for the Jayhawks’ postseason chances.

“Honestly, that hasn’t really hit me yet. But it’s like, ‘Holy crap, there’s only six games left and one more bye week.’ So, it’s like seven weeks left in the regular season. That’s crazy.”

“Our mindset is to just wash what’s already happened. The season started on Sunday. We’re 0-0 and we’re gonna go 6-0 these last six games. And we’re gonna take it one game at a time and try to go 1-0 this weekend.”

How likely is that?

“The confidence or belief in the locker room and the building is as high as it was before the season started. It might be even higher because now there’s a determination behind it, like anger and I’m pissed that we showed this. Now, we need to show what we actually are about. Bowl game aside, it’s more about showing people what we believe we are. The 6-0 is there, but during this next six weeks I just want people to know this is who this Kansas football team is.”

The Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff berth might be out of reach now, but the Jayhawks still have a shot to qualify for a bowl game for the third season in a row. If they pull it off, it will mark the first time in school history that the program has achieved that feat.

“That definitely means something to us, and it just goes along with that whole idea of, ‘Leave it better than you found it.’ That’s what we’ve all been trying to do the whole time we’ve been here and that’s still our goal today.”