Volume 126 Issue 2
kansan.com
Monday, August 26, 2013
ALL ABOARD
COMMENTARY Quarterback recruits Kansas
By Blake Schuster bschuster@kansan.com
T J. Millweard headed west hoping to find a future in the California hills. The
freshman quarterback from the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas was promised a chance to become the next man up for UCLA and jumped at it.
It only took one redshirt year before he packed up his car and drove back east. While he was expecting to catch on at a Texas school there was just one stop his mother encouraged him to make before returning to the land of Whataburger and Tex-Mex
Millward pulled over in Lawrence. This wasn't a full-scale recruitment. No, this is the reputation of the jayhawks under coach Charlie Weis. Kansas is the land of opportunity and second-chances.
"His high school coach reached out to one of our staff members saying that he was being released, would we have any interest?" Weis said. "To which I said, Of course we have interest."
Weis and Millweard had one day to pitch each other. It was all they needed.
"He called us the next morning." Weis said. Just like that, Kansas landed its likely successor to Jake Heaps.
This doesn't mean Kansas can now recruit with the big boys in college football. This is just a moment where the coaches can take a second to smile before getting back to work.
OK, it wasn't that simple. And it wasn't even Charlie Weis who sold Millweard on Kansas. The inception came from Millweard's mother, the person who asked him to check out the University in the first place, the one who graduated as a Jayhawk long before her son picked up a football.
"It's nice when you get a top line player," Weis said, "that wants you even more than you wanted him."
Not that there was much selling involved, Millweard lived in Kansas until he was eight.
— Edited by Dylan Lysen
That should not overshadow a simple fact: A top-100 player from the class of 2013 who passed for more than 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns during his senior season at All Saint's High School in Fort Worth, Texas, asked to play for Kansas.
Weis was joking, yet he should be impressed with himself. Perhaps this was something he envisioned happening in five years when the team likely averages more than two wins per season — but now? It doesn't seem too realistic that a four-star quarterback asks to play for the Jayhawks. Except that's exactly what happened.
Yes, some of this has to do with the "pile of crap" that graced the gridiron last year. Just think about what has come from that.
Millweard saw the slew of transfers find themselves in Kansas jerseys and went to see why. If it wasn't already known, Weis eagerly invites in the homeless. In just his second year he has given the program a new identity: You can make it here.
"I didn't have to recruit him," Weis said of his new quarterback. "That's what impresses me."
Junior running back James Sims rushes to the end zone to score the Jayhawks' second touchdown of the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State University at Memorial Stadium in 2012. The touchdown was not enough to bring the Jayhawks a victory in their 20-14 loss against the Cowboys.
CALLING ALL CAPTAINS
Sims, Heaps, Stowers and Heeney elected team leaders
CONNOR OBERKROM
coberkrom@kansan.com
Last season the Kansas Jayhawks were deprived in a lot of areas, but the main shortcoming for the team isn't told by its stats.
it's shown by the demeanor of the men behind the numbers.
Coach Charlie Weis decided to integrate a four-captain system that he
Heeney
After letting the team vote on who would fill those roles, Ben Heeney, Keon Stowers, James
envisioned would fix that.
Sims and Jake Heaps were elected. Weis said Dayne Crist, who was voted a captain last year, put forth his best effort, but it wasn't
good enough. The situation was completely foreign to Crist, which didn't contribute to a positive locker room.
"Lookit: I Love Dayne Crist," Weis said. "But for him to be a runaway leader as a captain of
your team when he's been here for three days... that says a lot about his character, but it also says you have a team void of leaders."
This year the talent has certainly improved, along with the leadership.
All four captains are cognizant of their roles and all of them have nothing in common that is
Sims
tangible to everyone surround
ing them.
"The biggest thing is we're just about the team," quarterback Jake Heaps said. "This is a team effort, we're not just a bunch of individuals up here."
Heaps hasn't been here as long
as the other guys, and wasn't even on the field last season. Regardless, he feels his role is just as big, if not bigger than his
"It really does mean a lot to me," Heaps said. "Probably more than anybody would ever know."
After the last game of the season versus West Virginia, Heaps sum-
co captains, and welcomes players with open arms to absorb some of the responsibility.
Heaps
moned some players including Sims and Heeney, to discuss what their roles on the team would be for the following season. As Heeney admits, it sometimes isn't about a person's innate ability to be a leader, but doing what's
necessary for the team.
"As Jake said, it's uncomfortable being a leader," Heenev said. "Sometimes when you need to say
something, I'll take it upon myself to say those things instead of just sitting back and watching"
Stowers
Heeney acknowledged that even though last year's team was senior-laden, they just didn't have a rampant amount of leadership in dire situations.
James Sims, who has always been seen as a competent runner, noticed his transformation of becoming a leader finally come to fruition this year.
"Just looking back as a freshmen," Sims said. "Not really wanting to talk to the media, not really having the chance to talk to the media. It was a big change and a different experience for me"
Leadership at times is defined in vague terms and is used loosely. For Kansas, it's showed through the interviews and the praises that the coaches have sung. It's something that Heaps has always taken pride in and has rubbed off on the others as he looks to transcend this team.
—Edited by Evan Dunbar
SOCCER
Kansas soccer shuts out Pacific in 3-0 win
STELLA LIANG
Forward Caroline Kastor keeps her eye on the ball and away from her UNLV opponents Aug. 26, 2012, at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. The Jayhawks won 3-0.
sliang@kansan.com
Standing in the opponent's box in front of the goal, junior midfielder Jamie Fletcher found herself open. Senior forward Caroline Kastor, who was surrounded by about five Pacific Tiger defenders, passed the ball to Fletcher who kicked the ball just out of the reach of Pacific senior goalkeeper Tashia Long, giving the Jayhawk soccer team its first goal of the season.
The Kansas soccer team was the aggressor against the visiting Tigers. Following Friday's loss against Arkansas where the opponents scored early, the Jayhawks took the early lead in this game. They kept that momentum up throughout the match, getting a victory against Pacific 3 to Fletcher describes the team's overall performance as much better than Friday's.
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
"We actually started passing really well and we meshed better because we were kind of not on the same page." Fletcher said. "Today I felt like we put everything together."
The team responded to Friday's loss by holding team meetings, discussing what could be improved and watching the game
tape multiple times to prepare for Sunday's matchup against Pacific. The Jayhawks' second goal against Pacific came in the early part of the second half when junior defender Caroline Van Slambrouck took a pass from sophomore forward Courtney Dickerson. The goal was also assisted by junior defender Haley Yearout. The victory was punctuated by Kastor's goal in the 89 difficult, diving save at the end of the first half.
"I thought the big difference today was obviously the offense, but the big key for us today was we competed a lot more consistently" coach Mark Francis said. "When we had the ball I thought some of the stuff we did was way better than we did on Friday."
The Jayhawks scored three goals, but had many more chances to increase that total. That effort was stifled by the 10 offsides calls on the Jayhawks, while the Pacific Tigers never committed offsides.
One of those opportunities came in the first half, just minutes after Fletcher's initial goal. Sophomore forward Ashley Williams ran up the middle and had a good angle on the goal, but was stopped short by an offsides call.
Another factor to the win was the performance of the bench. In the first half, sophomore midfielder Liana Salazar came in and had two shots on goal in the first half and sparked run outs for her teammates.
"The forwards got called offsides a little bit too many times, but one of the things we have been getting on them about is being a little bit higher on their defensive lines as opposed to dropping too deep," Francis said. "We want them to be in a more dangerous position."
Francis said he told the players that they couldn't accomplish what they wanted to this year
Francis said the team lost four or five great opportunities to score because of being offsides.
without everyone pitching in, and the bench players came in and maintained the intensity.The Jayhawks are now 1-1 to start the season. Next Friday they will travel to Missouri State before returning home to host Purdue Sunday.
Edited by James Ogden
1