Volume 124 Issue 9
kansan.com
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
COMMENTARY Put the past in the past
During the 2007 training camp, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton held
a mock funeral for the 2006 team he led to the National Football Conference championship game in his first season as head coach, Payton did this in order to help his team forget about the previous year's success and allow his team to focus on the season to come. Although he did not match the success of his first season in his second, he did end up leading the Saints to the Super Bowl just a few years later.
The time has come for the Jayhawks to do the same with the North Dakota State loss from last season. Similar to Appalachian State always being associated with Michigan, North Dakota State will forever be a black eye to Kansas fans. But now, the time has come to move on. The North Dakota loss was the lousiest part of last season and it was sad to see that high points were few and far between. However, that loss did carry significance.
Gone were the days where the Jayhawks could roll over on cupcake opponents and still emerge victorious. That day proved that every game from then on would be a struggle if Kansas wanted to win.
It was as if the Jayhawks had reentered the dark days of the 1980s, where bowl game appearances were separated by an 11-year-stretch.
Collectively, Jayhawk fans need to hold a funeral of their own for that North Dakota State game. Push it out of their memories. On Friday night, pour a shot on the ground to the ghosts of memorial stadium. Forget the loss ever happened. McNeese State is a talented football team that should not be taken lightly, but it is not unreasonable to expect the Jayhawks to emerge from Saturday unscathed in the standings.
While the Jayhawks should never forget the lessons learned on Sept. 4,2010, it's time to put them out of sight and out of mind as they focus on the new season that sits at the doorstep.
- Edited by Stefanie Penn
UDK
SPORTS
MAILBAG
But this team's team is different from the team that dropped that awful game, which turned into a dark foreshadowing of the season that followed.
The players haven't been dwell-
ing on the loss. Now it is time for
the fans to do the same thing.
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BREW: BROS LOSING THERI ENTOURAGE PAGE 7
Entering last season, the coaching staff was unsure of what they had, whom they had and how to use them. Now in their second season, the Gill staff what they are working with and they have personally seen many of the players in action, against real opponents.
Toben Opurum has had the opportunity to have a full-year as linebacker at the college level. The Jayhawks have an established rusher in James Sims, Kale Pick is invoking comparisons to Kerry Meier and Jordan Webb has game time experience under center.
HANNAH WISE/KANSAN
Freshman wide receiver JaCorey Shepherd catches a ball during afternoon practice on Aug. 30. The team was preparing for the first game of the season against McNeesey State Sept. 3.
MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
On Saturday, the Kansas football team will run out onto the field with thousands of spectators getting their first glimpse of this year's team. They will be screaming in support of their team and waving their arms back and forth in a wheat-like fashion.
When the campanile's bells echo across campus and into Memorial Stadium, it's their cue.
While the sea of fans collectively rises as the bell tower begins to chime, there will also be
a collection of wide-eyed freshmen and inexperienced players who have never been a part of anything like a college football Saturday
There will also be sophomores, juniors, and seniors who will be taking the field expecting to play for the first time in their Kansas career.
Sophomore Darius Willis, a transfer from Buffalo, is slated to start at middle linebacker and
senior lineman Jeff Spikes has given him a heads-up for what to expect come game day.
One of the most amazing feel-
JEFF SPIKES Senior lineman
making feelings that you'll get besides the win, is when we take the field, and see the fans there, and the stadium, and it's game time," Spikes told Willis. "I'm getting goosebumps right now, because that feeling is amazing."
Spikes himself has plenty of
extra anticipation for Saturday. He missed all of last season with a leg injury, after playing every game in his freshmen and sophomore years.
"I'm excited to get back out there," Spikes said. "There are jitters, just because it's the first game and I haven't played for a while, but that's minimal compared to how excited I am to get back out there and play."
10
While a player like Spikes has experience at controlling and handling that first-game nervousness, coach Turner Gill expects to play 7-10 freshmen on Saturday, who have never gotten
Nerves will be prevalent for the freshmen, who have been prepared for game day, but have not yet experienced it. During the fall and spring camps, Gill and the staff worked hard to ensure that those nerves will not be a factor for anyone come kickoff.
"During the preseason we tried to put them in a lot of situations as far as crowd noise and putting them in uncomfortable-
FOOTBALL 16
SOCCER
Soccer alum continues Philly success
OLB
Estele Johnson makes a tackle in the 2008 game against San Diego. Kansas shutout San Diego, 5-0. Johnson now plays as a defender for the Philadelphia Independence.
ANDREW HOXEY/KANSAN
RYAN MCCARTHY
mmccarthy@kansan.com
Defenders are a special soccer breed.
Their foreheads aren't plastered all over SportsCenter for a week after hammering home an immortal header.
They are not center stage on Nike advertisements.
For the past two seasons she's been a member of the Women's Professional League's Philadelphia Independence, who played in their second straight league championship game last Saturday.
Defenders out work the competition, and that's exactly what former Kansas player Estelle Johnson continues daily.
"I mean it's really hard to describe," Johnson said. "It was just amazing having that much support for women's soccer. I think the World Cup has helped change the atmosphere for the WPS. It was just great having that many people come out and see a good match."
Although Philadelphia lost in penalty kicks, Johnson hands were full, facing two of the best scorers in the world: Alex Morgan and four-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta.
Johnson defends against several world-class athletes every week, but no one is more difficult than the consensus elite women's player, Marta.
Both played for the opposing Western New York Flash.
"I hate to say this and be cliché, but Marta, she's unbelievable."
Johnson said. "She is as fast as a man. She's crafty as you can get. Every time I play against her she is the only person that always leaves me in awe."
In fact, on the Jayhawks last road trip to San Diego, the team sat down together and watched WPS championship in its entirety.
Although Johnson is on a frantic schedule with two-a-days during the season, she tries to keep in touch with players that are still on the roster.
"I think I felt nervous for her, but it's just incredible seeing her out there and knowing how hard she worked to get there," senior mid-fielder Jordyn Perdue said.
Perdue and several of the other upperclassmen for the Jayhawks still talk with Johnson and remember how influential she was in the early
"Estelle was one of those people that was just a natural leader" Perdeu said. "She was dominant vocally, physically, soccer wise. She was always someone we looked to determine how we were going to play"
part of their careers.
Kansas soccer coach Mark Francis agrees.
"When we recruited Estelle she was an unbelievable athletz," Francis said. "Fast, quick, tough defensively. The biggest area she needed to improve in was technically and the speed of play and her technically to get a little bit better. Over the four years, with us she improved tremendously."
Following graduation from Kansas in 2.09, Johnson was picked in the second round of the 2010 LA Sol Dispersal Draft.
Compared to her rookie year Johnson comfort level was substantially higher.
"it's definitely a lot more enjoyable for me because you know what to expect and last year like as a rookie coming in you have so many jitters and you're always nervous," Johnson said.
Now with the WPS on hold until April, Johnson is exploring her options overseas or spend the off-season with her family.
"Just be the best soccer player I can be," Johnson said. "Even if that doesn't mean getting play in a World Cup or playing in the Olympics."
Whatever decision Johnson makes she'll work to the highest level, even if she doesn't have the biggest international career.
Edited by Jonathan Shorman
BIG 12
Texas A&M still exploring options
According to the report, Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin informed Big 12 board chairman Brady Deaton that the Aggies would officially withdraw from the Big 12 on Tuesday. According to USA Today, the Big 12 also confirmed that it has yet to receive official word, but that the conference is actively considering its future plans.
The reports follow another volatile week for the Big 12 after Loftin sent a letter to Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe explaining that Texas A&M is exploring its options for its athletic conference affiliation and asking the conference about the procedure for withdrawal.
Texas A&M denied Monday's New York Times report that it notified the Big 12 of its intention to leave the athletic conference.
On Monday, the Aggies received a letter from the Big 12 outlining the procedures for withdrawal."
.
Texas A&M has been linked with the Southeastern Conference throughout the month of August despite SEC officials stating their satisfaction with the current 12 team alignment following a meeting on Aug 13.
Ethan Padway