Section B · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, February 5, 1998
New recruits should help KU football next season
Continued from page 1A
impact. A SuperPrep magazine high school All-American, he was ranked as the eighth-best "skilled athlete" nationally.
"I think Byron stands a great chance of making a contribution to our football team next year," Allen said.
The lone quarterback to commit at the time of is Jonas Weatherbie, from Broadneck High School in Baltimore, MD. Weatherbie, one of the best quarterbacks in Maryland,
a projected redshirt. Allen called the need for a quarterback "vital" and said that their could be another signing, possibly by Thursday.
Allen: Encouraged by new football recruits
"We wanted to get two quarterbacks, and the 22nd signee will be a quarterback also," Allen said.
The ground game adds two running backs and four offensive linemen to the fray. Childs, son of former Kansas State and NFL tight end Henry Childs, rushed for 1,100 yards, caught 7 passes, and scored 16 touchdowns while leading West to the 6A state semifinals. Childs is likely to be the big back Kansas' offense sorely needs. John Oddonetto, a NJCAA All-American as a sophomore at Eastern (AZ) Community College, has the best chance to contribute immediately.
The Jayhawks strengthened the defensive front with four new linemen and a linebacker for 1998. Headlining the group is end Dion Rayford of West Valley (CA) Community College. Rayford led the state of California at the juco level with 22 sacks last season. Demond Benford, a pass rushing end form Killeen, TX, was an all-state and all-district selection his senior year. Benford was also ranked as the 12th best defensive lineman in the Big 12 area by SuperPrep magazine.
Muhammad Abdul-Rahim
Minimalistic About Kidson
Defensive back 6'0" • 180 lbs.
Berkeley, B.C.
Washington, D.C. Dunbar HS/Scottsdale CC
Dunbar HS/Scottsdale CC
breakups during sophomore season
Algie Atkinson
Defensive end 6"5" • 220 lbs.
Evanson Township HS All area and all state honors from the
honors from the Chicago Tribune
Demond Benford
DE 6'3" * 240 lbs.
Killeen, TX Killeen HS
First-team all-state and all-district
choice, 12th ranked defensive lineman in the Big 12 area according to Prep.
in the Big 12 area according to Prep Star magazine.
Star magazine
Henri' Childs
Lenexa, KS Shawnee Mission West HS First-team all-state pick by the Topeka Capital-Journal, All-Sunflower League on both offense and defense, averaged 7 yards per carry his senior year
Andrew Davison
DB/WR 5'11" * 185 lbs.
Detroit MI Chasey MP
Detroit News Dream Team team member (top 23 players in Michigan). All-Metro and
23 players in Michigan, All-Metro and
AllDetroit selected for the
Shrine High School All-Star game
Bvron Gassawav
WR 6'4" • 180 lbs.
Grandview HS Ranked the#2 high player in Missouri by First Down Recruiting, National Recruiting Advisor placed him among
recruiting Author placed him and the top 20 receivers in the country
Kyle Grady
OT 6"4" • 270 lbs.
Mesquite, IX
First team all district pick and academic
01 6.4" • 2/7 lbs.
Monguite, TX
Select Oct
First-team all-district pick and academic
Jayhawk football 1998 signees
all-districet his senior year
Trace Haskell
jb/DB 6.0 • 170 lbs.
liberal KS Liberal KS
4th hand team player in the mid lands by SuperPrep. 23-1 record as a
Liberal, RS 44th ranked player overall in the Mid-
starting QB, compiled 4,630 yards of total offense over three years, all-state in The Topeka Capital Journal and
David Hurst
TE 6'3" • 230 lbs.
Austin, TX McNeil HS
Wichita Eagle
6'3" • 230 lbs.
Top 100 recruit in Texas, ranked the 52nd best player in the state by Super- Prep, 11th rated TE in the Big 12 area by Prot Star.
Matt Jordan
RB 5'10" * 195 lbs.
Junction City, KS Junction City HS Fir4t-team all-state and all-conference selection, ran for 1,693 yards and 24 touchdowns his senior year, two seasons over 1,000 yards rushing
John Oddonetto
OL 6'5" • 280 lbs.
Glaze AZ HS (Eastern A7C)
First-team NUCAA All-American his sophomore year, league defensive MVP
as a linebacker in high school, first team all-state offensive line as a senior
Globe, AZ Globe HS/Eastern AZ CC First-team NJCAA American his
Joey Pelfanio
soponforce year, league defensive mvp as a linebacker in high school, first
6'1" * 205 lbs.
Sacramento, CA El Camino HS/Sacramento CC.
All-state, all-region, all-league during his sophomore year at Sacramento, averaged 42.3 yards per punt on 41 kicks
All-state, all-region, all-league during his
Dion Ravford
Los Gatos, CA Los Gatos HS/West Valley JC
first team all conference and first team
First team all-conference and first team all-staff at Worthing Out.
standing defensive player in West Val levy's howl game
Gabe Rosalis
OL 6'5" • 275 lbs.
Victoria, TX
First-team all-district and All-Bay Area
First team all-district and All-Bay Area
pick. All South Texas team member.
honorable mention all-state
Roger Ross
WR 5'9" * 170 lbs.
WR 5'9" * 170 lbs.
Denver, CO Jefferson County HS
Two-time all-state, three-time all-conference. #1 wideout in the state in yards.
Nick Smith
catches, and touchdowns, SuperPrep All-American, #5 rated receiver in the Big 12 area
Big 12 area
OL 6'4" * 250 lbs.
Among top 100 players in Dallas according to the Dallas Morning News, first-team all-district as a junior and senior, second-team all-district as a defensive lineman
Mitchell Scott
LB/RB 6"3" • 230 lbs.
LB/RB Commerce, TX HS One of the top 100 players in Dallas as a senior as rated by the Dallas Morning News, Blue Chips magazine ranked among the top 20 backs in the state member of the Texas high school super team referee unit
of the texas high school super team defensive unit
Chad Shazor
DB 6'3" • 190 lbs.
Detroit, MI Martin Luther King HS Twice selected all-Detroit and all-metro first team all-stater his senior year, second team all-state as a junior, rated as the 32nd best player in Detroit on the
Justin Sands
Detroit News Blue-Chip List
Lawton, IA Lawton-Bronson HS firstteam all-district as a junior and a senior,all-state, Iowa Elite team member chosen for the Iowa High School Shrine Bowl
Kevin Toles
DB 6'4" * 198 lbs.
First-team all-metro as a senior, started
and free safety, 3 interceptions and 54 tackles senior year
Jonas Weatherbie
QB 6.2 *200 lbs*
Annapolis, MD Broadneck HS
Annapolis, MD Broadneck HS Second-team all-metro and first-team all-county selection, 1,660 yards passing as a senior, completed 106 of 159 attempts with a single interception, three for 20 touchdowns, ran for 265 yards and 13 scores on 53 carries, threw for 352 yards in a single game
Fans lose sleep, brave boredom for tickets
By Keith Burner
Allen Field House becomes campsite for loyal Jayhawks
Kansan sportswrite
Decked out in crimson and blue, a string of drool hanging from his slack mouth, a Kansas basketball fan sleeps, holding his group's place in line.
Less than 10 feet away, Brett Logan, Olate sophomore, tolls over his statistics homework.
"This game is even bigger than the K-State game," said Jonathan Wirth, Hollister, Mo., freshman. "Because we lost there, it's even bigger."
According to the Kansas Ticket Office, the Missouri game sold out Jan. 15, the same day tickets went on sale.
Today, there are about 30 teams camped in Allen Field House for the men's game Sunday against Missouri. A game most campers agree is one of the biggest of the season for the Javahawks.
The Missouri game also is important to KU students because many of them, like Wirth, are from Missouri.
them," said Katie Perkins, St. Louis, Mo. freshman.
Most die-hard fans estimated that by the final day of camping there would be more than 100 groups signed up and waiting to get in. Some groups began camping at 6 a.m. Jan. 29, the day following the Baylor game. That is 11 days of camming.
"I'm from St. Louis, and most of my friends go there. I've got lots of bets with
Also, each group must have at least five members at the field house at 6 a.m. the first day of camping. Every group that has the mandatory five members present is eligible for the drawing to decide positions in line.
Darren Cook, director of facilities, said students had been camping for basketball games for as long as he could remember.
Jenni Miller, Naperville, Ill., freshman, talks with Mackenzie Lane, Engelwood, Co. junior, while camping out in Allen Field House. The two were taking their hour-long shifts yesterday for the Kansas Missouri game on Sunday. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
Campers are allowed to form groups of up to 30 members for each game. Each group must have at least one member in the field house at all times between the 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. camping hours.
"It's amazing that 425 people were here at 5:30 a.m. just for a chance to get a good place in line," Wirth said. "People ask me who the greatest basketball fans are; it's KU no doubt."
While at the field house, campers do more than just sleep and drol. Some campers play board or card games, while others read books or magazines. Many use the time to catch up on homework.
Camping has not always been an indoor activity during the day. Cook said in the past campers, would camp in the parking garage at the north side of the field house.
"They used to camp outside all through the night, but the Athletics
Department asked them to change because of safety concerns," he said.
Cook said the two main safety concerns were the cold and the possible fire hazards that could be created by the extension cords and space heaters campers used to combat the cold.
Commentary
Sports concerns off the court and on the field call fans to comment
Some house-cleaning items from the sports department:
Can you find the Kansas men's basketball player who was missing from the front of yesterday's 100th year of Kansas basketball edition of the Kansas?
Our apologies to Chris.
Somehow, we forgot to include walk-on guard Chris Martin's name on the page. I could tell you that it was some cheap rip-off of "Where's Waldo," designed to give you hours of entertainment, but it wasn't.
It just happened. By the time we realized Martin's name was not there, the page already had been printed.
Roy Williams and his players all say "no comment." LSU is preparing a response to the NCAA that is due April 16.
Does anyone remember something happening a couple of weeks ago involving Lester Earl? You know, the whole NCAA-Louisiana State thing? It was some kind of scandal involving, oh. close to $10,000.
In the meantime, here is some discourse on the matter from e-mail sent to the Kansan sports desk:
Preston James IV, the president of the KU Sports and Entertainment Law Society, writes, "Earl, like various other athletes, is just a pawn in this athletic game of chess played by numerous institutions throughout our country."
Brian Goetz, Kingman junior, writes, "The Earl situation just plain makes our school look bad even though we did nothing wrong. K-State and Missouri fans will use this against us as long as Earl is in a KU uniform."
Ashley Masoni, Emporia junior, writes, "Earl is a good basketball player. That is all we, as students, need to know about him. The rest is none of our business."
In a column in yesterday's paper, Spencer Duncan, Topeka senior, wrote that a recent increase in football ticket prices was ludicrous, given what he considers to be the sorry state of the Kansas football program.
Brandon Bauer, Mulvane freshman, responds. "Your repeated articles demoting Kansas football are a kick in the face to the athletes who work hard day in and day out to construct a good football team... Upon reading your article, no prospective player would want to come here and be demoted by someone who couldn't even cut it in flag football... You are a little tightwad with no school spirit."
All I can say is that Spencer Duncan is not a tightwad. He lent me a dollar one time to get some Nacho CHEEZ-Z ITs out of the vending machine in Stauffer-Flint Hall. So there.
Earlier this semester, a new gimmick was introduced at men's home basketball games called the Scream Machine.
It is a trash can, and when Big Jay takes the lid off the trash can, fans are supposed to scream. Get it?
Get it?
Steve Tramba, Lawrence senior, does not think that a garbage can pays proper tribute to the Kansas basketball tradition.
"I can understand new chants being tried out. Some of them are great, but this idea really sucks... It would be great if you guys took a poll or something to see how everyone really feels about this can o' crap so that possibly by Senior Night this will be eliminated."
OK, fans. Drop us a line and tell us how you feel. Be honest. Yesterday, Kansas Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback introduced a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of Kansas basketball.
As the Kansan's sports editor, I would like to introduce a resolution saying "Whoop-dee-doo." It is a nice gesture, but it is also a prime opportunity for Roberts and Brownback to score some points with Kansas fans.
The 100th year of Kansas basketball is about the magic of Allen Field House and about Kansas coaches, players and fans.
It is not about resolutions.
Someone misses you.
Weslander is a Louisville, Ky., junior in journalism.