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MONDAY, APRIL 30, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOOTBALL
Spring game shows defensive improvement
Sophomore running back Tony Pierson noon's Spring Game at Memorial Stadium
Weis'infl
COMMENTARY
On a day when the University honored one of its football program's most significant figures, former coach Don Fambrough, it embarked on a new era.
An estimated 15,000 Jayhawk fans caught a glimpse of the new Kansas football team under the leadership of new coach Charlie Weis during the spring game Saturday.
epadway@kansan.com
New quarterbacks Dayne Crist and Jake Heaps showed off their extraordinary passing ability that Kansas fans haven't seen since Tode
ETHAN PADWAY
In one of the Kansas football team's practices last week, sophomore linebacker Michael Reynolds had three different coaches talk to him about running the play full speed.
At the end of practice, coach Charlie Weis called him out for it, trying to explain to him that they are going after him because he is one of the few players on the team who can make that play.
"I'm very comfortable with it because it gives me the chance to stand up and rush the passer and also play in coverage," Reynolds said.
points per game in the NCAA Division I last season.
Weis likes playing more versatile players at both positions because it
Reynolds, along with fellow linebacker senior Toben Opurum, played a hybrid linebacker/defensive end position normally seen more in a 3-4 defensive scheme than in the Jayhawks' 4-3.
what his role will be in the fall. Because of Jackson's bigger build, he has the ability to play in the traditional halfback position as well as a bulkier fullback.
"He could very easily be at 230 with a couple of cheeseburgers," Weis said. "That's what were going to have to decide, what weight we want him at, but you can see he has some natural running instincts."
The zero on the board beneath the white squad's name is an impressive feat, but it must be noted that the
KANSAS 59, KANSAS STATE 53
FEBRUARY 13,2012
Close calls for Taylor in Manhattan
MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
MANHATTAN, Kan. — He almost did it again.
In the final minute of Monday night's game at Kansas State, senior guard Tyshawn Taylor missed two free throws and traveled.
In the final minutes on Feb. 4 at Missouri, he missed two free throws and was called for a charging foul.
The difference? The Jayhawks won this time, edging the Wildcats 59-53 at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
"It crossed my mind a few times," Taylor said of the similarities between the rivalry games. "I was trying not to think about it."
Junior center Jeff Withey starred for the third consecutive game, falling just one block shy of a triple-double. But when Withey cooled off and Kansas State took a 37-36 lead with 11:49 left, Taylor hit two consecutive three-point shots and keyed an 11-0 run.
"That gave us a little bit of a cushion." Self said. "Ty made some great plays. He made some plays that weren't so great, but certainly those were huge at that moment." Self said of the three-point shots.
Even with a fairly comfortable lead and Self's guidance to do nothing but waste away the rest of the shot clock, Taylor found a way
to create points. Usually this portion of the game, a time to secure, not attack, stalls even the best guards in the nation. When the Jayhawks led 51-44 with only three and a half minutes left, Taylor dribbed the shot clock down to its final few seconds, shook his defender with a cross-over, drove to the hoop, nearly tripped himself, but lobbed a pass to an airborne Withey who laid it in for two points.
"Tyshawn has been unbelievable in conference play. Unbelievable." Self said. "Arguably as good a player in our league."
Just as he did at Missouri, when he nearly carried the Jayhawks to a victory, then unraveled in the closing minutes, he struggled at the end of Monday night's Sunflower Showdown. But Taylor won this time and he breathed easy after the game knowing that fact.
When the game was already decided but the clock had yet to run out, a Wildcats fan screamed at Taylor and reminded him of his failures at Missouri.
Taylor heard the fan, turned around, held up the front of his jersey and flaunted "Kansas" on his chest.
"They had their time to talk to me when I was warming up and during the game," Taylor said. "So I figured that I had my time to talk to them a little bit after the game."
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
Junior forward Thomas Robinson measures up the Kansas State defense in the second half at Bramlage Coliseum where Robinson had only 10 points and nine rebounds while committing four fouls in the Kansas 59-53 victory.
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
32
SINCE 1980 BRUAN/KANSAS
Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor fires in a shot in the second half against Kansas State where州队 led the team with 20 points, five assists, and five rebounds in the Kansas.54-53 victory.
"William Faulkner was a Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) Member." What other English Literature courses and assigned novels were written by fraternity men and sorority women authors?
(BONUS QUESTION)
Which KU fraternity man was founding editor of the Book of the Month Club and ran for Kansas Governor on an Anti-Klu Kux Klan Ku Platform?
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