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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Team captains Cassius Sendish, Nick Harwell and Ben Heeney walk to the center of the field for the coin toss. The seniors will make their last appearance at Memorial Stadium on Saturday against TCU.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Bowen prepares for senior day, TCU matchup
Coach Clint Bowen looks toward the Memorial Stadium video board on Nov. 7. Bowen said in his Tuesday press conference he remembers his senior night Nov. 20, 1993, when Kansas defeated Missouri 28-0.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
DAN HARMSEN
@UDK_Dan
SENIOR SENDOFFS
SENIOR SENIENDUFFS
For the final time of their careers, 21 Kansas seniors will play football on the field they've come to call home. Thirteen starters and punter Trevor Pardula will be among the 21 honorees at Memorial Stadium on Saturday as Kansas takes on No. 4 Texas Christian at 2 p.m.
Joined hand-in-hand with parents, brothers, sisters and loved ones, the 21 Jayhawks will have a moment to reflect on their KU football journey in the minutes before kickoff in one of the tallest tasks of the season. Win or lose, Saturday will be a time to ruminate, a time to say thanks and a time to be thanked.
"We're going to make sure that we show the amount of respect and appreciation to these guys through the course of this week," coach Clint Bowen said. "We make it a point of doing that."
According to Bowen, the team will be doing some senior-oriented things this week leading up to the players' final game at Memorial Stadium. Often in coach-speak, it's about the game ahead and taking things one day at a time. This week, however, with the final home game Saturday, Bowen says it's OK to look back a little bit.
"Those team meetings the Friday before always get a little bit emotional." Bowen said.
Those 21 will remember getting up before the sun for morning weight sessions, the sprints up the hill to the Campanile in the summer heat and the late night routes in the biting cold. They'll remember the friendships, the laughs, the tears, all this — fleeting thoughts, a flood of memories
- before the last chapter.
It's a group of young men
that has seen as many new head coaches as conference victories. Twenty-one men who came in looking to carry the torch of the Orange and Insight Bowls, looking to spin those successes into Big 12 trophies — bigger and better football moments for this program.
Instead, they will be remembered for laying the foundation to rebuild - the springboard that made Memorial Stadium the place to be again.
"[They're] a group of guys that through some tough situations, tough circumstances always stayed together, always stayed positive — a group of guys that never quit," Bowen said. "I feel the team has a different feel to it in the locker room. We have players over here a lot more often when they're not required to be."
"Anybody associated with our program that knows Tony [Pierson] on a day-to-day basis is a Tony fan." Bowen said. "I don't know how you couldn't be. The young man is as polite and good-hearted a guy we've had in the program for a long time. I've never once heard a negative comment said about Tony in all the time I've been here. He truly is a special guy."
"He wears his emotions on his sleeve," Bowen said of Heeney. "There is no doubt
But if these players grade out as too slow, too small or too weak by pro scouts' standards, Bowen says they have traits that will carry them in any endeavor they choose to pursue after Kansas.
Despite last week's win and the signs that this program is pointing in the right direction, the finality of a career that may not see a bowl game will hit hard. For many, football ends with graduation.
Bowen says anything involving linebacker Ben Heeney will be full of passion.
when you go to practice or you go into a game that you're going to get everything Ben Heeney has to help you at whatever the cause is."
Michael Reynolds is known for his quick-twitch ability on the field, but it's his studious nature that has Bowen buzzing.
"Michael goes in there and he studies the person he's going to go against," Bowen said. "He's into breaking down offensive tackles, most of the time that guy's past sets, that guy's tendencies. He takes a big approach to the game."
Name a position on the defense, and there is a good chance Victor Simmons has played it. Simmons' versatility has never been questioned in his four seasons at Kansas.
"You talk about (Victor Simmons) going from safety to a linebacker, to now we have him rushing the quarterback," Bowen said. "He's an intelligent man."
The list goes on. Their stories are unique and personal,but their effort and passion are no different.
Their names may not encircle Kivisto Field in the Ring of Honor. Heeney's might. But what they did for this program may mean so much more than their name emblazoned for show. When so many could have packed it in after all the humiliating defeats and the late-game miscues, they dug deeper. Kansas football is better because of it.
"I think we have tremendous seniors on this team that deserve all the appreciation we're going to show them," Bowen said.
Of the 19 seasons Bowen has spent with Kansas football, three of those came with a set of pads on his shoulders and a helmet on his head.
BOWEN REMEMBERS
HIS LAST GAME
Bowen has an acute memory of the day he said goodbye to Memorial Stadium in his blue jersey.
"The part I remember is I remember on the Friday night meeting before we got to address the team as seniors in the meeting," Bowen said. "Seeing some guys who always pretend to be pretty tough get up there and cry like little girls, myself included."
But senior days, bittersweet as they can be, can stick in the memory bank long after they are over for good reasons.
"It was against Missouri," Bowen said about his final game in Lawrence back on Nov. 20, 1993. "We shut them out 28-0. It wasn't even close. Non-competitive."
TCU PHYSICAL, NOT GIMMICKY
IUCF PHYSICAL, NOT GIMMICKY
The senior say matchup is against a team with just one bleismish beside its name, the (8-1, 5-1) TCU Horned Frogs.
A large part of their success is the defense, which allows just 22.3 points per game and held No. 7 Kansas State to 20
this past week.
"TCU is a very talented team playing at a high level," Bowen said. "Gary Patterson has done a tremendous job. In all honesty, the last 10 years I've spent countless hours in the offseason watching TCU's defense trying to steal ideas because he's been one of the best defensive coaches in college football for a long time."
But the offense is what's different this season for the Horned Frogs from last season's (4-8, 2-7) team. The unit averages 47.2 points per game as opposed to 25.1 last season.
["Quarterback Trevone Boykin] is gifted with his athletic ability, speed, change of direction, all of that," Bowen said. "He has a cannon for an arm."
Bowen said the key for a victorious senior send-off is keeping athletic TCU players like Boykin from getting out on an island where Kansas will have to make one-on-one tackles, and always swarming to the ball.
This TCU offense, like Bay lor, is often misunderstood.
"People get confused with open style of offense," Bowen said. "They automatically think that this is a gimmick-type offense or it's a pass-first offense. They're a knock-you-off-the-ball-type mentality. If they can do that the whole game, that's actually their preference."
NEWS AND NOTES
Freshman Darious Crawley has been permanently moved to running back for this season because of his quickness and speed.
INJURIES
"We're getting better on that front," Bowen said. "This week, Keon [Stowers] will be back in there, Andrew [Bolton] will back in there, Joe Gibson gets battled through and continues to play. DeAndre Mann has a chance to get back in this week. Our biggest concern now is Ngalu [Fusimalohi]. Ngalu is probably pretty questionable."
TONY PIERSON
WIDE RECEIVER
Edited by Alyssa Scott
TREVOR PARDULA
PUNTER/KICKER
MICHAEL REYNOLDS LINEBACKER
VICTOR SIMMONS LINEBACKER
$ \exists $
BEN HEENEY
LINEBACKER
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