Evan Fairs is a receiver, a KU Jayhawk, and he’s originally from the Houston area. It’s almost like he was destined to join the Fu-fense.

It also means we bang our noggins on the same problem we had with Khalil Herbert: how much did being on a bad, bad Kansas team hold Fairs back? Fairs’ best season was 2017, when he had 24 catches. That happened to be the year Kansas went 1-11. The offense was pretty rough, as in “they had a hard time completing perimeter screens” rough. After that, Fairs redshirted, got hurt, and got passed by. The years after that, he moved from right receiver to the left and had three total catches. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was even further back in the pecking order than his talent would suggest, given Les Miles and his rebuilding mandate.

Even in his best year (and even within his best games), Fairs’ stats won’t wow you. For all of 2017, he averaged a solid 14 yards a catch. On the other hand, he only averaged two yards after the catch. If you want a comparison, Bucky Hodges picked up an average of three yards after the catch in 2016. Fairs also only caught a total of one touchdown in his entire time at KU. He rarely started, and he definitely wasn’t the team’s most dynamic receiver (that’d go to Steven Sims Jr., now with the Redskins.) Pro Football Focus credits Fairs with avoiding one tackle in all four years at Kansas.

But then there’s the whole “he played for Kansas thing.” Kansas’ QBs were rough. I’ve never seen so many botched screens. The Jayhawks switched between two QBs on the season; one had a 10/10 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and the other had a 4/7. For comparison, Ryan Willis in his last year had nine touchdowns and five interceptions. The Kansas quarterbacks achieved this despite having pretty good protection and some explosive RBs, and despite being in a conference not known for its defense.

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