THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8. 2007
SPORTS
3B
FOOTBALL
Former KU star predicts happy ending for'Hawks
Cornish relishes college career, follows Kansas' title chase
Jon Cornish set *kansas*'s single-season rushing record at 1.457 yards during his senior year. He now leads the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders in special teams tackles.
Josh Kirk/KANSAN
BY B.J. RAINS editor@kansan.com
Living more than 1,600 miles and two time zones away in western Canada, it's hard for former University of Kansas running back Jon Cornish to watch his college team's games on TV. But that doesn't mean he's not following them.
"I get live updates on my cell phone." Cornish said. "I'm always paying attention and rooting for them."
Cornish, who set the school's single-season rushing record with 1.457 yards during his senior year in 2006, stays in contact with former teammates such as running back Brandon McAnderson. The Jayhawks' 9-0 start this season hasn't shocked him at all.
"I knew what was about to happen; it was just a surprise to everyone else," Cornish said. "I knew about Reeing and what he could do because he was doing it all of last year on the scout team until he started playing, and I knew that Brandon McAnderson was a fantastic running back. If you have a strong passing offense, it opens up the running game, and that's what we've been doing."
As Cornish talked about Kansas football, the word "we" continued to pop up in his answers. When asked why he used the word despite not being on the team, Cornish explained his love for the school and for Lawrence.
"I am a Kansas alumnus," Cornish said. "If you graduate from Kansas, youre always going to be a Jayhawk. I will follow them as long as I live, and I hope to make it back to Lawrence at some point and maybe work there. Kansas will always be a part of me."
When NFL teams overlooked him in this year's draft, Cornish signed a two-year deal with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Cornish leads the team in special teams tackles as the Stampeders near their first-round playoff match
up on Sunday against Saskatchewan. Kansas' success this season may not astonish him, but being second on Calgary's depth chart certainly does.
"For whatever reason, I am the second-string running back," Cornish said. "Everybody has been expecting me to see the field a lot up here, and I haven't, which has been just as much of a surprise to me."
The CFL has a few significantly different rules from those in college and professional football in America, most noticeably the five-yard halo that punt returns receive when catching the ball, and the three downs, instead of four, that the offense has to get a first down.
"There's enough changes that it makes the game a little bit more exciting," Cornish said. "The game is really opened up a lot more, and I think it's more fun for the people that
get to play it. The three downs really makes special teams a huge part of the game"
Cornish plans to play out his contract before trying to earn a spot on a NFL roster in 2009. But for now, he's rooting for his former teammates and friends.
"I think we will win on Saturday because Oklahoma State puts up a lot of offensive numbers, but their defense is weak." Cornish said. "Same with Missouri in a few weeks. They will be a hard team to beat, but with our offense playing as well as it is, I think we can win a shoot-out with them. I just think we are going to play well enough to end up playing in a BCS bowl. I will be rooting for them the entire way."
Edited by Chris Beattie
Kansas' maturity, hunger causes greater intensity for early season games
BY MARK DENT mdent@kansan.com
Darrell Arthur walked off the Allen Fieldhouse floor after a loss to Oral Roberts last November with a bad feeling in his stomach. Kansas, the No. 3 team in the country, had just lost to a team from the Mid-Continent Conference.
Too bad his pain would only get worse as soon as he heard Kansas coach Bill Self's message in the locker room.
"He told us practice was going to be real tough after that," Arthur, sophomore forward, said. "He didn't up let until the Florida game so we had some intense practices."
The players shouldn't need the extra intensity this year. Self said this team is "hungrier" than it was last year, as it gets ready to take on lower level teams such as Louisiana-
Monroe,
Washburn
University and
UMKC in the
early part of its
schedule.
Last season,
the hunger wasn't there.
Oral Roberts wasn't the only team that gave Kansas prob-
BASKETBALL
Self said the maturity of this year's team resulted in more motivation. The five seniors all said they
"I didn't think last year's team played as hungry early in the season in large part because that team was young."
"Last year, I think when we saw teams like Oral Roberts and DePaul we were like,'Man, who do we play next?' Stewart said. "I'm not saying it was because we aren't seniors, but we really didn't have the sense to know this is just like any other team you play."
BILL SELF Kansas coach
The players didn't always do that last year. Games against Florida and Boston College brought out the best in the Jayhawks, but match-ups against Detroit and Winston Salem State didn't. Senior guard Rodrick Stewart said the team sleepwalked through several games.
wanted to leave
Kansas doing
something
special. They
don't want to
mess around
like last year's
team did.
lems. Ball State hung around for most of the game in late November before the jayhawks pulled away at the end. DePaul upset Kansas after trailing by double digits in the second half.
The seniors aren't the only mature ones, either. Junior guards Mario Chalmers and
Brandon Rush now have two years of experience. Arthur and sophomore guard Sherron Collins know what it's like to play college basketball at a high level for a full season.
it was the NCAA loss. Maybe it should have been more motivation, but let's be honest, it is motivation. But after a point in time, you have to motivate yourself."
"I didn't think last year's team played as hungry early in the season in large part because that team was young," Self said. "I don't think
They also know how sweet it tastes to be on the brink of a Final Four and want to return. Self said the tournament run encouraged
Self doesn't want to dwell on the Oral Roberts loss for the next few weeks. He said he might mention Marchello Yealy, the guard who made seven three-pointers in the upset last year, but he said that's all he'll bring up.
"You have to be a self-starter," he said. "I didn't think last year our team as a group was that. I think this year, we're better in that area. Maybe it's UCLA, maybe it's five seniors in a last go-around, maybe it's just we're maturing as a group. Who knows what it is, but it's probably a combination of all those things."
He doesn't need to remind them.
The players learned their lesson.
"In basketball, you can be beat on any night," Stewart said. "Just because you're the most talented team doesn't mean you'll win. That's the approach we have to take this year. We have to play every game like it's your Texas' and UCLAS, and if we do that, I feel like we won't lose a game."
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER LOSSES IN THE SELF ERA
2003- Stanford, Nevada
2004- None
2005- Arizona, Arkansas,
Nevada, St. Joseph's
2006- Oral Roberts and
DePaul
Autumn upsets
Edited by Chris Beattie