8B • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 29, 2001
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Kansas banks on Floodman
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By Jeff Denton Kansan sportswriter
The heat index was 106 degrees Monday as the Kansas linebackers ran through one of linebackers' coach Johnny Barr's drills.
Freshman Greg Tyree clutched a practice dummy. In front of him stood Banks Floodman, 6 feet 5 inches and 210 pounds of rage. When Barr blew the whistle, Floodman exploded.
"Go after him Banks, go after him." Barr screamed.
Floodman latched his arms around the blue bag, catapulting it and Tyree backwards seven yards.
Going into Saturday's opener, the 19-year-old Floodman, from Wichita Collegiate High School, will be the only true freshman to play for the Kansas defense. He will back senior co-captain and middle linebacker Marcus Rogers, as well as participate on special teams.
Barr said he had watched Floodman enough to trust him on the field.
Although some freshmen take their first season off to learn, Floodman will get his education by playing on Saturdays.
If he weren't up for the challenge, Barr said, then Floodman wouldn't be playing at all.
"I haven't played a lot of freshmen," Barr said. "In my mind, I think he is physically and mentally ready to play. I think he has a chance to be really good.
"But he can't play like a freshman if he's out there."
Summer vacation was unconventional for Floodman. Instead of spending his last few months before college relaxing like most of his friends, he was
cooped up in Collegiate's weight room from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. six days a week, lifting in the morning and running in the afternoon.
"Usually on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays I'd do
upper body," Floodman said.
"Tuesdays, Thursdays and Satur-
days, I'd do lower body, legs
and tris. And then I'd run five
days a week."
"That has basically got me to where I am right now,"
Banks is in excellent physical condition. He carries 5.8 percent body fat on his frame, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, leaps 34 inches from a standstill and bench-presses 370 pounds.
Fred Roll, Kansas strength and conditioning coach, said "Banks is young, but he's got a real good motor.
AARON LINDBERG/KANSAN
"We have to build a base with him, monitor what he eats and what he lifts, but he's showed that he could play, so we're playing him."
Floodman arrived in Lawrence early, moving into the Jayhawk Towers on July 2. He moved to Lawrence for the summer to get acclimated with the Jayhawks defense and to start working with Roll.
He had always pushed himself, Floodman said, but Roll helped unleash some of his fury.
Roll said Floodman could put on 25 pounds and still be effective. The freshman has learned to balance his diet better since high school.
"When I first met him when I came to visit, he seemed like a pretty intense guy." Floodman said of Roll. "From what I had heard and what people were telling me, he gets the job done. If he says you got to be somewhere, you just do what he says."
Banks Floodman, top, a 19-year-old from Wichita Collegiate High School, will be the only true freshman to play for the Kansas defense. He will back up senior co-captain and middle linebacker Marcus Rogers and play on special teams.
Gone, he said, are the days of
rushing through breakfast, grabbing mystery cafeteria food at lunch and wolfing down burgers after weekday practices.
A better diet is part of his growth. And the growth he aspires to, he said, is a weight of 245 pounds.
"During two-a-days, I'd never been fed so good in my entire life," he said. "We had good breakfasts, huge lunches, big dinners and a snack at night. One of my main things is to eat a lot, and to eat well."
Contact Denton at 864-4810.
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