SPORTS | KANSAN.COM
Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015
13C
DAILY DEBATE
Will KU football pass its over/under of 1.5 projected wins?
Chris Sitek
@ChrisSitek
Yes
New faces, a new recruiting class and a new year could bring success to the Kansas football team this fall. Coming off another losing season, Kansas (3-9) decided to make a coaching change in hopes of taking the program to the next level by hiring Texas A&M wide receivers coach David Beaty.
Beaty contributed to a Texas A&M team that ran the spread offense, an offense predicated on players using athleticism and speed at every offensive position, especially wide receiver. Texas A&M ranked 13th in team receiving among all FBS college teams in 2014 and has featured players such as Mike Evans, who had 68 receptions for 1,051 yards in the NFL last season.
Beaty will use position athleticism to improve a Kansas offense that ranked 118th out of 128 total FBS teams last year. After all, one of Kansas football's biggest problems was team scoring. The Kansas offense accounted for a mere 17.8 points per game last season, whereas
Texas A&M ranked 28th in the nation with 35.4 points per game.
Kansas football has already seen its athleticism and speed increase through its recruiting. Beaty inherits a class of 19 three-star recruits, highlighted by the 50th ranked defensive end Dorance Armstrong and the 19th ranked cornerback Brandon Stewart. On the offensive side, Kansas has two big wide receivers in Jeremiah Booker and Emmanuel Moore, both of whom are three-star Texas signees. These players should be able to make an immediate impact to both the team and its success this coming fall.
Beaty also returns plenty of players from last season, although perhaps not as many as he would've liked after a couple of dismissals. Offensively, this includes dual-threat quarterback Montell Cozart, wide receiver Tre' Parmalee, running backs De'Andre Mann and Taylor Cox — who missed all of last season — and tight end Ben Johnson.
tackles.
Defensively, the line appear to be the backbone, starting with defensive linemen Ben Goodman Jr. and T.J. Semke. Goodman finished last season with one sack, while Semke racked up 21 total
Weak-side linebacker Courtney Arnick is the most experienced player in the linebacking core, coming off a season where he posted 45 tackles. In the secondary, the cornerback position will be led by transfer Brandon Stewart, who had a strong offseason. Meanwhile Fish Smithson and Bazie Bates IV will hold down the strong and free safety positions.
With the mixture of new talent and returning starters, Kansas football could, and should, win more than the 1.5 wins set as the over/under by many Vegas sports books this year.
Last season, Kansas finished 1-8 in the Big 12, only ahead of Iowa State in the basement of the league, but this record can be deceiving; three games — Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and TCU — were decided by just a mere two touchdowns or less.
If the jayhawks can learn to close out games, they could do something they haven't done since the likes of coach Mark Mangino in 2008: become bowl-eligible. However, the team isn't quite there yet. The first step is getting those first few wins together.
Derek Skillett
@derek_skillett
No
With the fall semester getting underway, the new-look Kansas football team is less than a month away from kicking off its season against South Dakota State. Unfortunately, Jayhawks fans should expect another long and painful season as new head coach David Beaty begins the long and arduous process of rebuilding the Kansas football program.
The Jahwahws lost an incredible amount of talent following the 2014 season. The program lost star linebacker Ben Heeney and corners Dexter McDonald and JaCorey Shepherd to the 2015 NFL Draft.
A number of former Jayhawks, including wide receivers Nigel King and Nick Harwell; defenders Michael Reynolds, Cassius Sendish and Victor Simmons; running back Tony Pierson; punter Trevor Pardula and tight end Jimmy Mundine have also gone on to the next level to try and make an NFL squad.
Replacing that much talent is not easy, but that isn't the end of it. The rebuild gets even more challenging with the departures of safety Isaiah
Johnson (transfer), running back Corey Avery (dismissal) and wide receiver Rodriguez Coleman (dismissal).
Avery would have been the Jayhawks' best returning running back after contributing 848 yards of total offense and six total touchdowns in 2014. Coleman only contributed 245 yards and one touchdown in his two-year career at Kansas but was expected to have a breakout junior year under Beaty, who famously coached former Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans into a first round NFL Draft pick in 2014.
The Jayhawks currently have only 64 scholarship players for the 2015 season. The NCAA maximum for scholarships-per-year is 85. During the Jayhawks' annual spring game scrimmage earlier this spring, redshirt senior quarterback Michael Cummings injured his knee. Later, we all found out he would be lost for an unspecified amount of time in the 2015 season.
Cummings was set to build on a fairly strong 2014 season for the Jayhawks, where he threw for 1,715 yards and recorded 13 total touchdowns over the final seven games of the season. In his best game, he posted 332 passing yards and three touchdowns, as Kansas nearly pulled off one of the most shocking upsets in
recent history over No. 4 TCU. And still, it doesn't stop there.
The Jayhawks are also faced with an absolutely brutal schedule this upcoming season, with tough matchups against Memphis, Rutgers, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, TCU and Kansas State. The easier games will come against Iowa State, Texas Tech, West Virginia and Oklahoma State, but even those will be difficult.
The Jayhawks have not won on the road since 2009 when they defeated UTEP, which basically means Kansas has not won a road game in six years. That is unlikely to change this season, with road games against Rutgers, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas and National Championship contender TCU.
Even the season-opening game against South Dakota State is not necessarily a surewin. The Jackrabbits went 9-5 last season and advanced to the second game in the FCS Playoffs. South Dakota State is also ranked No. 15 in the FCS preseason polls.
Unless the jayhawks luck into some close victories, there is a high possibility of a winless season this fall, and that's why I'm taking the under when it comes to whether they will win at least 1.5 games.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Junior quarterback Montell Cozart participates in a passing drill at a practice on Monday, Aug. 17.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
Much of Kansas' defensive core has graduated, such as fifth-round NFL draft pick Ben Heeney.
Top performers return to cross country squads
G.J. MELIA
@gjmelia
Limited eligibility for athletes can make consistency a challenge for cross country teams. However, that won't be a problem for Kansas' cross country programs. Both the men's and women's teams enter the year with their top 2014 performers.
Senior Jacob Morgan will lead the men's squad, coming off a successful year that included a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships and a sixth-place finish in the Midwest Regional. Morgan was also the only Jayhawk to qualify for the NCAA Championships, where he earned a
The men's team will also be anchored by senior Evan Landes. Landes missed all of 2014 because of an injury. Landes' 2013 season was comparable to Morgan's 2014 season, earning All-Big 12 and All-Region honors.
top-100 finish, coming in 91st.
He was the first Kansas athlete to do so in seven years.
The women's team returns junior Nashia Baker, who was the top finisher in five Kansas meets last year. Meanwhile, junior Hannah Richardson is coming off a strong 2015 track season and will look to continue the success into the fall cross country season. She missed the 2014 season with an undisclosed injury.
Kansas will host two regular season meets this year, both at Rim Rock Farm. The first is the Bob Timmons Classic on Sept. 1, and second is the Rim Rock Classic, which will fall a month later on Oct. 3. The Midwest Regional meet is also set to be hosted by Kansas at Rim Rock Farm, and will be held on Nov. 13.
Other notable meets include the Wildcat Invitational, hosted by Kansas State on Sept. 19. Kansas will be traveling to the Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky. on Oct. 17. Louisiana will also play host to the NCAA Division 1 championships on November 21.
The men's cross country team at a race in November 2014p. This year, the men's team will be anchored partly by senior Evan Landes, who missed all of 2014 because of an injury.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN