AN
08
SPORTS
SWIMMING & DIVING TEAM MEETS TEXAS A&M
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The Aggies boast four Olympic athletes and a top-25 ranking. SWIMMING & DIVING | 4B
BAYLOR DEFEATS KANSAS 3-0
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008
Despite minimal errors, the Jayhawks fell to the Bears' offense. VOLLEYBALL | 3B
COMMENTARY
PAGE1B
DOUBLE TAKE
KU should make push for this QB
Michael Crabtree Dezmon Briscoe
6-foot-0 Height 6-foot-0
214 pounds Weight 200 pounds
21, RS Sophomore Age 20, Sophomore
Carter (Dallas) High School Cedar Hill (Dallas)
Biletnikoff Winner, Consensus All-America 2007 Honors Honorable Mention Freshman All-America
2008 Stats (National Rank)
51 (11) Receptions 43 (T27)
724 (T9) Yards 705 (11)
103.4 (T9) Yards/game 100.7 (11)
12 (2) Touchdowns 8 (T6)
Enjoys cutting hair Fun Facts Loves Scooby-Doo fruit snacks
Sophomores Dezmon Briscoe and Michael Crabtree could have been teammates. Instead, they will go catch-for-catch on Saturday.
Dallas duo dominates D-backs
BY TAYLOR BERN
tbern@kansan.com
He is built like a running back — 6 feet, 220 pounds — and runs a 4.5-40-yard dash that pales in comparison to the in-game speed he has demonstrated on Friday nights the last four falls.
As often as he is likely to toss an 83-yard touchdown, North Kansas City Highs David Parker is equally likely to shift, dodge and dash his way to paydir — leaving the field behind him.
He could be Kansas' quarterback of the future. He damn well should be.
With Todd Reesing's farewell tour kicking off September 2009, there is no better time for Kansas' next great quarterback to learn from its current legend. Did I mention there is essentially zero risk with this kid?
None. No risk. How often does the opportunity arise to land a player as athletically gifted as Parker is and who has sterling character to boot? No need to work on his leadership skills. Parker needs no conduct symposium. He doesn't need schooling on how to not spit liquor in a woman's face at a nightclub or avoid sketchy situations
Army, Air Force, Navy and Wyoming have bitten thus far, but Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State and Texas Christian remain on Parker's radar.
Rated the sixth-best high school football player in the Kansas City area by Jeremy Crabtree of Rivals.com, Parker is that versatile, dynamic signal caller tailor-made for college football. However, just one college campus will have this weapon of mass production next fall.
See, when Parker isn't scoring six touchdowns in a single game, he is involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Future Business Leaders of America, DECA and presides
SEE QUARTERBACK ON PAGE 6B
They both come out of Dallas, they play the same position and their stats gravitate closer each week.
These days, sophomore wide receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Michael Crabtree are looking more like equals than an upstart and the king of his position.
"It would have meant a whole lot more if we would have won." Briscoe said.
Crabtree still edges Briscoe in every catching category except yards per reception (Crabtree: 14.2, Briscoe 16.4) but the margins have grown smaller. A big reason for that is Briscoe's 269-yard, two-touchdown performance in last week's 45-31 loss.
Crabtreat re-wrote the NCAA record books last year with 134 catches for 1,962 and 22 touchdowns, all freshman records. Kansas didn't play against the freshman
phenom last year, but Briscoe said he was always aware of Crabtreat's production.
"I paid attention to him a lot," Briscoe said. "As a receiver, you always give props to other receivers who are in your conference that do well. He did phenomenal last year"
Coach Mark
said we have to offer him," Mangino said. "He made some moves that you don't see everywhere."
Two Kansas players, freshmen Jeremiah Hatch and Lubbock Smith, went to the same high school as Crabtree, Dallas Carter. Briscoe said those two filled him in on Crabtree's high school exloits.
All in all, Mangino's Dallas receiver has turned out pretty well, too. Starting as a true freshman last season, Briscoe
Mangino could have done the same, as Kansas made a scholarship offer to Crabtree.
"I watched him play one time in practice during spring, and as soon as I saw him I
"As a receiver, you always give props to other receivers who are in your conference that do well."
DEZMON BRISCOE Kansas wide receiver
caught 43 passes for 496 yards and seven touchdowns.
In addition to last week's performance, Briscoe has two games with more than 120 yards receiving and another with three touchdowns.
starlar outings. In games against South Florida and Iowa State, he combined for 5 catches, 58 yards and no touchdowns.
However,he has also had a few less-than-
"Dezmon has shown some signs of being a really good player," Mangino said.
"But Dezmon has to develop consistency and play at that high level every week. Crabtree plays at a high level every week. He understands it, and I think Dezmon is starting to understand that."
Briscoe said that there were similarities between the two but he didn't compare himself to Crabtree now.
"He's already proven himself and I'm still trying to get to his level," Briscoe said. "I can't really put myself at his caliber right now."
Briscoe said he would be ready to put himself with Crabtree if he out-duelled his counterpart on Saturday's homecoming game. The receiving gauntlet has been thrown down and the underdog seems ready for the fight.
"I like accepting challenges," Briscoe said. "For me to try to match his game, it should be fun."
Edited by Brenna Hawley
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
Texas Tech to start fan at kicker
BY TAYLOR BERN
From the football coach who brought you tips for a first date and performed the worst weather report ever seen comes a story you wouldn't believe. Until you heard it was Mike Leach.
During Texas Tech's Sept. 20 game against UMass, Matt Williams, a Texas Tech student, drilled a 30-yard field goal to win one month's free rent. On the way back to his seat, an assistant told Williams that coach Leach would like to meet with him the following Tuesday.
"So you got free rent, and maybe at the end of the year he might even have a scholarship," Kansas coach Mark Mangino joked. "That's a great story. I think that's awesome."
One month later, Williams will suit up and start in Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium. No wav? Wav.
Williams hasn't suited up yet because he's a transfer student from Tarleton State, where he kicked for the Texans. Special teams coordinator Clay McGuire initially didn't think Williams would qualify because of transfer rules, but earlier this week he was cleared.
"That is the way I understand it, yeah." MeGuire told RedRaiderSports.com on Tuesday. "He's got a real good shot. Only Mike Leach could bring a guy out of the stands and make it work."
Williams isn't the only regular student to start at place-kicker. In 2006, Steve
MEN'S BASKETBALL
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
SEE KICKER ON PAGE 6B
Freshman Taylor exceeds analysts' expectations
But people are asking a similar question about the freshman guard's
Tyshawn Taylor's performance on
July 17 at Penn Valley Community College hasn't become quite as legendary as Mario Chalmer's miracle shot in the National Championship game last April.
47-point, 17-rebound and six assist per
formance in the Kansas Pro-Amateur League game — were you there that night?
}
"No, actually I wasn't," freshman forward Quintrell Thomas said. "But he made sure I heard about it."
None of the Jayhawks were in Kansas City that night to witness Taylor's exhibition, where he led his team, the Hawks, to a lopsided victory against the Cavaliers.
Not even sophomores Tyrel Reed and Cole Aldrich or junior Mario Little, who all were his teammates in the league. They missed the game that night. That's how Taylor said his outrageous performance began.
Taylor's finest hour impressed Thomas, who also played in the league, for a different reason. Thomas said the nature of the league made it even more difficult to accomplish the feat.
"It was just me," Taylor said. "And I was
"I was surprised anyone could score
like, 'man, I'm going to just play."
Taylor's eyes widen and he smiles when the game is brought up more than four months later. Thomas said Taylor, his roommate, has stopped reminding him about the 47 points he scored. That doesn't mean Taylor has forgotten about it.
"The team we played against, they weren't that good," Taylor said. "But I mean, I still scored 47 points."
Well, not just him. Taylor's teammates that night included a few junior college players and former Kansas guard Nick Bradford. Taylor made it clear early in the game, however, that he would be in control.
Taylor said 47 points set the league record for this year. That's impressive considering the caliber of players who participated throughout the summer — including NBA players such as Chaucey Billups of the Detroit Pistons and Ronnie Brewer of the Utah Jazz.
SEE TAYLOR ON PAGE 6B
FOOTBALL
Running back brothers to meet in homecoming game
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Junior junior back Jacques Crawford takes a handoff from junior quarterback Todd Reeing during Saturday's game at Oklahoma. Crawford will play this weekend against his broth Aaron, who is running back for Texas Tech.
BY B.J. RAINS
rins@kansan.com
"I didn't want to go there and be in a competition with him."
Believe it not, KU running back Jocques Crawford was almost a Texas Tech Red Raider — twice.
Crawford signed a letter of intent with Tech coming out of high school but decided to go to junior college instead. Then, he committed to Tech again before changing his mind and signing with Kansas this spring.
JOCQUES CRAWFORD Kansas running back
Crawford soured on Tech for several reasons. They wanted him to play safety.
This weekend the two teams will meet in an 11 a.m. matchup at Memorial Stadium to celebrate Homecoming.
but he wanted to play running back. Also, his brother Aaron is a sophomore running back for the Red Raiders and Crawford didn't want to have to compete with him for playing time.
"I only had two years left and they barely run the ball anyway," Crawford said. "I just felt like he needed as much opportunity as he could to get the ball in his hands there. I didn't want to go there and be in a competition with him. I would have loved to have play with p
to have play with my brother but that wasn't a situation that I
SEE RUNNING BACK ON PAGE 6B