THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
BETWEEN THE LINES
PAGE 9
Football Notebook
Player strength and position strategy ups the ante
CONNOR OBERKROM
coberkrom@kansan.com
Sendish moves up depth chart to different position
Ever since Big 12 media days, Charlie Weis has been gushing over Cassius Sendish and the big news on Tuesday was that his role in the defense is now noticeably larger.
Sendish was pegged at nickelback, but after fall camp came to an end, he was moved to free safety. The decision also hinged on the depth at free safety coupled with the comfort level that Weis and company had in their two nickelbacks, Victor Simmons and Courtney Arnick, who were originally behind Sendish.
"We took a position of strength and we strengthened a position that we thought was of weakness," Weis said.
expected out of him right from the start.
by fortifying a position, the depth in the secondary is even stronger and they have a little more wiggle room for more action on defense.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
Coach Charlie Weis smiles at the podium after being introduced as the new Kansas football coach during Friday's press conference at Anderson Family Football Complex. Weis has 33 years of experience in coaching.
"It is a cerebral position." Campo said. "The key to playing to corner is being able to line up one-on-one and cover someone, whereas the safety position, it has all these different run fits, change in coverages."
Coaches, including second-year defensive coordinator Dave Campo, have mentioned in the past few weeks that Sendish possessed the versatility to play relatively anywhere on the field.
Sendish has received rave reviews as the acute mind of the secondary and is already well ahead of the learning curve that coaches
Many Jayhawks to play in their first Division 1 game
All of the buzz this offseason, all of the hype, will be tested come Saturday.
The five brand new junior college players starting — Samson Faifili, Cassius Sendish, Mike Smithburg, Zach Fondal, Isaiah Johnson and a number of others who will surely sniff playing time — will see Division I action for the first time and to try to prove themselves worthy of their new scholarship.
One of the biggest challenges for the group is adjusting to the new, accelerated level of Division I competition.
"The speed of the game changes so much when you go from one level to the next level," Weis said. "So they won't be able to truly experience all the things they go through until you're playing; you see the speed goes up."
Justin McCay, who was at Oklahoma for two seasons but never saw a snap, will also be seeing his first lengthy football action since high school.
Another emerging depth-chart story has been the rise of weakside linebacker Samson Fafili. He beat out sophomore Jake Love, the starter last year at the strongside linebacker spot.
Samson Faifiili beats out Jake Love
Faifi a junior college transfer from American River College in West Valley, Utah, has been in competition with Love, but finally rose to the top.
The main difference, Weis said, was Faifili's size advantage.
Weis said difference in size was the underlying factor that helped
make his decision.
Although Fafili made a late push after getting comfortable in camp, Weis expected him to rise up and challenge Love for the starter spot from the get-go.
While Samson is the starter for now, Weis mentioned that Love is still in for a fair share of playing
time, which is the case with a lot of positions on the Kansas defense.
Edited by Kayla Overbey
CLUB SPORTS
Kansas women's soccer to hold tryouts this week
TORI RUBINSTEIN
trubinstein@kansan.com
The Kansas Women's Soccer Club is looking to make the jump from a recreational squad to a more vying team this fall. The club is hoping to reach a higher level of competition than they have in previous years.
"We're shifting from more of a just-for-fun, recreational team to a higher competitive team." Club Secretary Sarah Kwapiszeski said.
The club is holding tryouts today, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Shenk Sports Complex on 23rd and Iowa streets. The club is searching for dedicated players who are willing to take the club to the next level.
Coach Jon Kot is on the lookout for players with skills that can be used in more than one position, to
create a more complete squad. The club is interested in girls with a team-comes-first outlook.
"We look at everything from a team perspective," Kot said. "We want players with a hard-working attitude and a team mentality."
Building on last year's accomplishments and working on individual player growth are going to be goals for this year.
"We focus on team play and want everyone to focus on the system and style of play," Kot said.
The club saw success this past year when they made a strong showing at Nationals, making it to the Sweet Sixteen. The team is also looking for a repeat as regional champions.
"There are certain people who have shining moments in some games and everyone steps up;"
Kwapiszeski said. "We play really well as a team."
Although the team lost players this year, the Jayhawks still have a good group of girls to work with.
"We have a great core team that will transition the hard work ethic shown in practices to the games," Kot said.
The club will travel to Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas and Kansas State this year, while looking to make another run at the national tournament in Phoenix.
we really want to get a lot of new people at tryouts so we can be even better this year." Kwapiszeski said.
Edited by Chas Strobel
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