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Volume 127 Issue 3
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
kansan.com
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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COMMENTARY
Season-ending injuries hurt football teams
Before the start of each football season, fans and media speculate about how teams will compete during the course of the season with the projected depth chart, but there is one aspect of the game that people can never estimate — season-end injuries.
Season-ending injuries occur in football all the time, but it's still sad to see, because all of the hype of the player leading up to the season is diminished.
Football is especially different because injuries to certain positions can affect the whole season. Kansas fans have seen curveballs early this season as the top two running backs, Brandon Bourbon and Taylor Cox, will miss the remainder of the season due to injuries. Their season was over before it even started, which is sad because all the hard work those players put in in the weight room and on the field has gone to waste.
Seasoning-ending injuries, especially to key players, take the wind out of the sail for football programs, and not only in the college programs. This happens in the professional world, as well. Fans still get their hopes up on certain players and then those hopes are dashed when they get injured.
This has been seen within the Kansas program, too. The media hyped up Bourbon and Cox prior to the season as the dual-set backfield, which means the two backs would share carries. Now that both are out for the season, they must be replaced. Who will take over for them, and can they produce just as well as the starters?
St. Louis Rams fans have seen this recently when former starting quarterback Sam Bradford injured his left knee during a preseason game against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. Bradford will miss the remainder of the season. This was Bradford's second injury to his left knee in the past two seasons. After the media reported on how Bradford came back strong from a torn ACL in 2013, another season-ending injury left Rams fans in a shadow of disappointment once again.
The injuries that occur during training camp or in fall practice leading up to the season will open up opportunities for other players to step into the spotlight. Within Kansas' football program, offensive coordinator John Reagan will have to find replacements for Bourbon and Cox.
CREAM OF THE CROP
Football teams are flexible, but when a team loses a player who might make or break a season, it's hard to look past those injuries, and teams ultimately suffer. On the other hand, fans will be playing the "what if" ga me the whole season and that leaves fans uneasy.
Edited by Sarah Kramer
Senior duo look for others to play a contributing leadership role
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
Senior outside hitter Chelsea Albers was named All-American honorable mention and first team All-Big 12. Albers became the first Jayhawk with 300 kills, 200 digs and 100 blocks.
Senior outside hitter Sara McClinton made the All-Blg 12 team for the second straight season in 2013. McClinton finished the 2013 season with 354 kills.
MATT CORTE
@Corte_UDK
If it were up to outside hitters Chelsea Albers and Sara McClinton — both Nebraska natives and the only two seniors on the Kansas volleyball team — there would be no seniors or freshmen, just returners and newcomers.
Both Albers and McClinton, along with their returning teammates, made that choice in a meeting with Coach Ray Bechard, who spoke about leadership on media day.
"They made the decision last spring that there aren't freshmen, but newcomers, and there aren't seniors, but returners," Bechard said. "So I thought that was a high level step in leadership right there, and I know that (Tayler) Soucie, (Tiana) Dockery and Cassie Wait were involved in
that decision, as was Maggie (Anderson), too. So that was a high level of leadership by your returners, and certainly Chelsea and Sara are driving that bus"
The emphasis of that decision from the two seniors and other returners is to show that anyone can be a leader on this team, not only certain players.
It may puzzle some to see Albers and McClinton give away their seniority so freely, but this shows just how past leadership has molded them. After losing seven seniors from last season, the two remaining seniors this year quickly became aware it would take everyone to help.
Although it's believable that all of Kansas' players will exhibit some kind of leadership during the season, the team will still need Albers and McClinton to perform at a high
level. Each was named to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team after being named to the All-Big 12 First Team last season.
Beachard said their experience from the NCAA Tournament last season will be especially important.
"I would rather have the team winning as a whole than a personal success of making another 45 kills."
SARA MCCLINTON Senior outside hitter
"That's going to be key because in crunch time, it always seems like it comes down to an outside taking a big swing, in a big moment," Bechard said. "I know they want to make their own path after
a large class cleared out last year. I think it does hopefully drive them and give them the motivation they need, for Chelsea and Sara specifically, to have a type of senior year that we'll remember for a long time."
Both Albers and McClinton will have to put up similar, if not better, stats than last season in order to successfully lead this team, but the pressure to do so isn't weighing on the duo.
"I don't think there's pressure, I think it's a matter of me stepping into a different role that I'm not used to," Albers said. "I think the most important thing for me is to accomplish all the goals that our team needs to accomplish. That I need to talk and I need to perform well."
McClinton also put team goals ahead of her own. She is
nearing the 1,000-kill plateau for her career, but that doesn't matter as much as helping the team.
"I'll probably hit that during these preseason tournaments, but that's kind of a side factor," McClinton said. "I would rather have the team winning as a whole than a personal success of making another 45 kills."
Albers and McClinton now have a chance to become the winningest players in program history if the team can win at least 25 games this season (as the team has accomplished the last two seasons). No Kansas team has won 25-plus games in three straight seasons since 1976-78.
Edited by Sarah Kramer
Salazar brings experience to Kansas
In 2012, Salazar utilized her redshirt season after her and her coaches decided it
BEN CARROLL
@KansanSports
Salazar is a midfielder and has already logged more than 3,200 minutes, netting eight shots and adding four assists with the jayhawks in her two seasons.
The University's soccer team will look to other players to fill the void of losing one its top offensive players from last season, Caroline Kastor, who scored six goals and three assists. One of those players is All-Big 12 First Team-elect Liana Salazar.
Salazar, a redshirt junior from Bogotá, Colombia, has played in three World Cups for Colombia and also drew a start against the U.S. at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.
Salazar said playing on the international stage taught her a lot about the game, knowledge she brought back to America and shared with her teammates.
"I bring experience and I'm always relaxing before a game because I've played a lot of games," Salazar said. "I always soaked it in and told myself this is one more game; it's nothing different."
"If they don't understand something I can tell them where and how they have to move," Salazar said. "I can show them how it's better for them."
Salazar has also learned how to be a leader and how to help her teammates learn and make adjustments on the field during a match.
was in her best interest after representing her native Colombia in the Olympics. After starting all 20 games last season and averaging 79.4 minutes, she is poised for a breakout season at the new 2,500-seat venue at Rock Chalk Park.
"Every time I step on the field I always bring my 100 percent," she said. "Push them to make the All-Big 12 team this year and continue to encourage them."
After being named to the All-Big 12 First Team at the end of last season, Salazar says her teammates can learn a lot from her and all they need to do to receive the same honor is to keep working hard.
Coach Mark Francis hinted at the fact that this team's offense will be better than previous teams and to look for Salazar to be a leader of the new offense.
"We're playing a different formation that we've never played before," Francis said. "It's a formation that's going to allow us more offense, and we've already seen it in the exhibition game we won 3-0. I think you're definitely going to see a lot more offense out of this group."
Francis also added that he introduced the new formation to center around the group of players the team has now to better suit them.
"As a soccer coach, you base your formation off of the players you have," Francis said. "It's based off of the strengths of the players you have and that's how we've formed this system."
Edited by Casey Hutchins
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
Junior midfielder Liana Salazar competes with Tennessee midfielder Amy Harrison for a headball at the Jayhawk Soccer Sport Complex on Aug. 19, 2011. Kansas lost the game 2-1.
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