Wednesday, August 24, 1977
5
Contemplation
Photo by DAVE CRENSHAW
Bud Moore, KI1 head football coach, defies his hat, sets aside his bullhorn and ponders the situation from afar at a Jayhawk practice.
Recruits intent on dotting the line
By JASON NUSS Sports Writer
Concentrating on linemen and quarterbacks, the Kansas Jayhawks signed 21 freshmen to letters-of-intent. Included in the team were linemen and five potential quarterbacks.
Bud Moore, in his third year as head coach, is taking a wait-and-see attitude toward newcomers to the program and said nothing about this year's signings. But Hank Hettwert, recruiting coordinator, said he thought the 'Hawks recruited some top-netch talent, including the four best athletes in Kansas.
They are, he said, lineman John Odell from Wellington, David Lawrence from Parsons, David Venser from Kansas City, Kan. and Steve Smith from Emporia.
ODELL, A 6-4, 252-pound lineman, may be the prize catch. He chose KU over Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Arkansas. Sought by many teams in the Big 8 area, Odell was
J.V. schedule
Sept. 23   Missouri
Oct. 3    Washburn
Oct. 24   Iowa State
Nov. 4    Nebraska
Nov. 11    at Nebraska
chosen as a prep All-American and consensus All-State performer.
Playing for his father, Mac, who coached Wellington' or Odell made 901 tackles in three years. Wellington won 25 of 30 games, including second place in the state in 1976. Odell was also certified with 29 fumble recoveries in his high school career.
Odell, who has been clocked at 4.8 in the Odell, who has been clocked West team this season in the Storming Arena.
LAWRENCE, A THREE-YEAR letterman, was a consensus All-State selection. The 6-4, 252-pound will be tried at tight matches for 330 yards at Parsons in that position.
Lawrence also played linebacker and defense tackle at Parsons, helping the Vikings compile a 26-6 record. Lawrence scored 15 of his 34 goals East in the Kansas Shrine game last spring.
Verser, a graduate of Sumner High School in Kansas City, Mo., played in only five games last fall because of an ankle injury, and was selected to one prep All-American squad.
Although standing 6-1 and weighing 200 pounds, Verser has good speed, covering the 40 in 4.6 seconds. He also was a member of the team that won the league junior year. As a junior, he caught 11 passes
for 271 yards and averaged 38.1 yards on kickoff returns.
A VERSATILE ATILETLE, Verser was a selection and was recruited a wide range of people.
backs, Harry Syndey and Frank Wattetle,
will probably be tried as defensive secondary
daries. Sydney, from Fayetteville, N.C., is
the fastest of all KU签督, running the 40
mark guided. Bowers to a 184 mark
and gained more than 2,100 yards in
total offence.
Smith, as a triple-option quarterback, helped Emporia win the 4A state title. He completed 49 per cent of his passes for 2.027 yards and 58 per cent also rushed for 771 yards and accrued 163 runs.
Another possibility for quarterback is Jeff Bruton, who spotted him off the pitcher's dugout at Littleton College. During his time at Hines School, Hines completed 51 per cent of his passes for more than 1,300 yards and also threw three touchdowns.
Smith could be switched to the defensive secondary, a weak spot for the Jawhayes. While playing safety for Emporia he intercepted 12 passes.
Also included in this year's freshman crop is John Calovich, brother of KU defensive end Jerry Calovich. John also earned All-American status.
University Daily Kansan
Hetter said he thought the sleeper of the group could be Greg Smith, a 6-3, 265-pound defensive lineman. Smith, a league heavyweight, would have been one of the top linemen in the Chicago area.
TWO OTHER HIGH SCHOOL quarter
Bob Lowy, a 6-2, 10-pounder, had the advantage of participating in spring drills. A mid-term graduate of Wichita Heights, he is also a defensive lineman during the spring.
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Cross country team inexperienced, hopeful
Most of his runners may be young an inexperienced, but cross country coach Bob Timmons expects his team to hold its own in Big Eight competition this year.
Seventh and Arkansas Streets in Old West Lawrence
The conference meet is at Manhattan on
March 5, a week before the NCAA regionals in
Des Moines.
"Colorado should be able to defend the
Tumons said, but Kansas State will be
able to win."
That means, of course, that he looks for success from reasonably close to his 1976 fourth consecutive victory.
"We don't have very many really experienced people in the program," Timmons said. "We lost two strong seniors in George Mason and John Roseco."
The squad was paced to its high stand-ing—its best in years—by Mason, who finished third, and Roscoe, who came in 12th.
The Jayhawks will participate in several meets, leading into NCAA competition in November. The opener is the Wichita State Invitational on Sept. 16. KU will host a quadrangular on Oct. 7 against Southern University, Iowa State and Kansas State.
Returning to Timmons' foid are Bruce Coldsmith (10th in the league meet), Ted Crank (20th), Brent Swanson and possibly Joel Cambron.
"We have a lot of open spaces," he said. The team must run seven members in each of the five-mile races with the top five counting in the point totals.
"I'm pleased with the guys we have. They have a good attitude," he added. "We have a lot of time to do it."
The KU recruits, plucked from the high school and junior college ranks, are what Timmons said may make the difference in the team's finish.
Mickens has run the half-mile in 1:49.2 and the same distance in the midley relay in 1:50.6.
Reilly's 2:14.8 in the 1,000-meter run was the sixth fastest time indoor by a high schooler last winter, and Schmidt finished it on Friday. He raced the mile at the 1977 Kansas state 44 outdoor.
"Some freshmen will compete." he said.
Timmons will look for strength from Paul Schultz, Ormaha freshman, and the twin Jansch brothers, Tim and Tom, from Kansas City, Mo.; Rockhurst. Also on his list are Frank Reilly, Champaign, Ill.; Tim Schmidt, Teoima Sanpan; and sophomore Lester Mickens, Alameda, Calif., junior college.
Schultz, who has Nebraska's all-time schoolboy best mile at 17:1.1, won the mile and two-mile at the state outdoor last season, with a mile time of 9:03.3 was an all-time state best.
Tom Jansch clocked a 4:23.5 mile, and finished second in the half-mile at the Missouri state indoor meet and fifth outdoor. Tim's 1:52.8 in the 880 is the Missouri state record, and he won the state mile title with a 4:14.3 time.
Timmons thought Crank, who has been working on longer distances than the middle-distance track running he did last spring, would be improved. Camron, attending KU Medical Center classes in the City, may not be available to the team.