THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
THURSDAY AUGUST 22, 2013
FOOTBALL
PAGE 7B
Kansas starts from the bottom, now it's here
CHRIS HYBL
citybl@kansan.com
If you followed Kansas football this summer, at some point you heard the words "pile of crap." Coach Charlie Weis used these words to describe Kansas' 1-1 football team last year, and they apparently doubled as his recruiting pitch to more than 20 junior college transfers.
Here were Weis' well-document-
There were wed words from the Big 12 Media Day on July 22:
"Everyone wants to play.
There's no one that wants to not play. So I said,
'Have you looked at that pile of crap out there? Have
pen to believe not only will they fix the “pile of crap” situation, but that they have formed a "Dream Team."
"It's a good name to have," Pearce Slater, an offensive tackle from from El Camino Community College, said. "We're trying to change Kansas football and turn it around."
The name was started by Maruel Combs, the No.1 junior college transfer recruit in the nation according to ESPN.com, before any transfers had even laden up their spikes at
"I want to turn this team around grom going 1-11 to a bowl game or do even better."
you taken a look at that? So if you don't think you can play here, where do you think you can play? It's a pretty simple approach. That's not a sales pitch, that's practical. You've seen it. Unfortunately, so have I."
Weis can't rebuild when there's not foundation. He filled the roster with junior college transfers with more in-game experience, who also hap-
SIAIAH JOHNSON Sophomore safety
Kansas.
"Everybody knows about the Dream Team," Samson Faifili, a linebacker transfer from American River Community College, said. "We all came in and we've
all been talking to each other before we met and we've been texting and all that stuff"
It even helped lock in commitments from other junior college prospects.
"We're all cool and we all talk and it's been fun on the field," Isaiah Johnson, a junior college transfer from Iowa Western Community
College, said, "We all started that 'Dream Team' and I think that was a big reason I came here too."
"Dream Teams" usually have ambitious goals. This one certainly does considering Kansas' six football wins in three seasons.
"I want to turn this team around from going 1-11 to a bowl game or do even better," Johnson said.
It's bowl or bust for the Dream Team, and the surrounding criticism couldn't mean less to the junior college group. They don't care that they teams was picked last in the conference. They don't care that the team they now play for hasn't won a conference game in two years. And they certainly do not care if anyone makes fun of the "Dream Team."
"Basically we don't have any spot light on us, not even a little light on us, but that's just going to make the season even more special," Faifiil said. "When we do show something everybody's going to be like, 'Woah, who are these guys?' because we came out nowhere and no one will really know."
Added Pearce Slater. "Anything is possible. We just got to work."
Edited by Maddison Schultz
GEORGE MULLINIX / KANSAN Junior quarterback Jake Heaps scans the field during practice on Aug. 16. Heaps enters the season as the starting quarterback after sitting out the 2012 season as a redshirt.
GEORGE MULLINIX / KANSAN