SPORTS
VOLLEYBALL TEAM PLAYS AT NOON
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Before the Jayhawk Invitational tonight, the team will face Utah State. VOLLEYBALL 4B
KICK THE KANSAN
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5. 2008
Find out who different members of the Kansan sports staff picked to win in this weekend's games. SPORTS | 3B
BUG BITES
COMMENTARY
PAGE 1B
Young receiver has star potential
Sitting in Mrkonic Auditorium wearing a black T-shirt, pants and a red backpack, Daymond Patterson, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound freshman wide receiver/punt returner, looks a little out of place. At the moment, he looks like a lost child. It's hard to believe Patterson electrified Kansas' special teams during last week's victory against Florida International, turning in four punt returns for 135 yards, highlighted by a 75-yard touchdown.
"I just followed my blockers, and they took me to the endzone," he tells a few reporters who ask him about his touchdown return.
Patterson
To put into perspective how out of place Patterson looks, 6-foot-3, 200-pound sophomore wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe is also in the room surrounded by the media. Briscoe, still
tying his tie, looks as if he is headed to Massachusetts Street for a post-game dinner at Teller's. With his size there's no mistaking him as a Division I football player.
Meanwhile, junior quarterback Todd Reesing, also encircled by the media, is sitting across the room and telling a couple of reporters that Patterson,
though talented,
looks as if he should
be playing "pee-
wee" football. Like
Reesing should talk.
Donning a swanky
suit, Reesing, at
5-foot-10 and 200
pounds, looks as if
he could be on stage
Reesing
with the Jonas Brothers
As the smallest player on the roster, Patterson could very well be the next little guy from Texas to become a big-time player at Kansas.
— Edited by Adam Mowder
We've heard the story before. An undersized all-star from Texas is overlooked and comes to Kansas. In 2006, Mangino removed the redshirt from a freshman quarterback who led the Jayhawks to a comeback victory against Colorado. That quarterback's name is Todd Reesing. an Austin native who was the 2005 4A Player of the Year in Texas, slipped out of Longhorns coach Mack Brown's backyard.
But for what the football giants of Texas missed out on, coach Mark Mangino certainly knew what Patterson would bring to Kansas.
On first look, it's hard to tell Patterson was a first-team All-Texas selection at wide receiver. Matter of fact, it's hard to imagine Mangino was able to get a first-team All-Texas receiver to commit to Kansas. After all, in a state where football is religion, surely a giant such as Texas, Texas A&M or Texas Tech would have snapped him right up, right?
"He's a very, very mature guy," Mangino told reporters after the game. "As soon as he walked here in the complex at two-a-days, he gave you that impression that he can make that transition from high school to Division I without too many bumps in the road."
In 2007, an underrated Reesing put up better numbers than legendary littleman Doug Flutie had as a quarterback in his Heisman Trophy season.
Running back Jacques Crawford runs the ball against FIU defense. Crawford tweaked his ankle late in the first quarter of last Saturday's game, but Mangino said he's ready to play again this week against Louisiana Tech.
With one game and one touchdown under his belt, Patterson has already been an improvement in Kansas' punt-return game. Anthony Webb, last year's starting punt returner, had just 16 yards in 19 returns.
Fields injured,out Saturday
rains@kansan.com
BY B.J. RAINS
Weston White/KANSAN
One of the biggest keys to the Jayhawks' magical 12-1 season a year ago is already causing problems in 2008 — the injury bug.
During the Jayhawks' run to the Orange Bowl Championship, only Kendrick Harper and Anthony Collins missed time because of injuries.
Senior wide receiver Dexton Fields, who led the team in receiving last year, will miss Saturday's game against Louisiana Tech with an injured foot. Coach Mark Mangino said after practice on Wednesday that he hoped Fields could return in time for next Friday's game at South Florida.
"That's what we're hoping," Mangino said. "I can tell you that there's no fracture, but he is in no way ready to play Saturday, for sure."
Fields was injured late in the first quarter of Saturday's 40-10 victory against FIU when he leaped up to catch a pass over the middle of the field and landed awkwardly on his foot. In his place will be freshman Daymond Patterson, who had three catches for 22 yards on offense but provided most of his contributions at punt returner.
Patterson had four returns for 135 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown return down the right sideline.
Despite Mangino's high praise of Patterson and some of the other younger receivers, Mangino would rather have Fields in the lineup come kickoff.
"In college football every game is for keeps," Mangino said. "You don't mind resting them in spring ball or in a practice, but you like to have your guys ready for every single game. There's only 12 of them. You like to have everybody. The reality is, in college football, it doesn't work that way most of the time."
Redshirt freshman Jeremiah Hatch, who missed Saturday's game against FIU, has practiced all week and Mangino said he will probably start against Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
"He's practiced all week, and we feel good about what we see," Mangino said. "There hasn't been a whole lot of after-effects from practice. Probably after tomorrow's practice if he looks good and he's pain-free, we'll start him."
- Two back set — Jake Sharp and locques Crawford, the Jayhawks two top running backs, saw time on the field together at the same time last Saturday. Offensive Coordinator Ed Warinner and Mangino indicated that they will continue to have both of them appear on the field together in certain situations.
"It's just another look that you give people," Mangino said. "It's another thing that they have to prepare for. It's a chance to get two good athletes in the backfield on the field at the same time. Both are ball carriers but yet both can catch the football."
Crawford, a junior college transfer who rushed for only 32 yards on Saturday after tweaking his ankle late in the first quarter, has been working on his blocking since he
- Mohawks — The Jayhawks wide receivers are sporting new hairdos these days. Wide receiver Raymond Brown came up with the idea for all of the receivers to get mohawks before the season started
and with the exception of Kerry Meier, all of the receivers agreed and went to have mohawks cut into their hair.
"Jocques is really starting to come around as a blocker now that he's learned our system and understands what we're trying to do," Mangino said. "He's a pretty physical guy. He takes pride in being a physical player. It's not like your starting from scratch, he's got some physical ability.
"I don't think we'll get Kerry Meier to get a mohawk," Dezmon Briscoe said. "He likes his hair."
arrived on campus.
Edited by Ramsey Cox
SOCCER
Ranked team prepares for tough weekend schedule
Coach Francis' team plays his alma mater Sunday in a two-game weekend schedule
1. 2.3.1.1.1.1.1
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
Goalkeeper Julie Hanley blocks a kick against Auburn. The Jayhawks play a game today against UAB.
College soccer plays by its own rules.
College soccer plays by its own rules. Coach Mark Francis knows that first-hand. A London-born transplant to soccer in the United States, Francis has plenty of experience with the way the rest of the world schedules the beautiful game.
The NCAA, on the other hand, does things its own way.
This weekend marks the first of eight straight weekends in which No. 20 Kansas will play two games in three days. The Jayhawks start the weekend by taking on UAB Friday afternoon at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex then follow that by traveling to Dallas to face SMU, Francis' alma mater, on Sunday.
Weston White/KANSAN
Francis said the grueling prospect of 180 minutes of high-level soccer in such a short time span is a phenomenon reserved for college athletes.
"Its not ideal." Francis said of the physical demands a clustered schedule poses for his players. "We are the only people in the
That isn't even including the NCAA's baffling game clock that counts down each 45 minute half rather than the running clock the rest of the world employs. Still, Francis and his players have no choice but to prepare for the schedule they are given.
world who do that. Nobody else plays that many games in three days."
Sophomore defender Lauren Jackson said first-year players tend to have trouble adjusting to the scheduling and travel. After a year on campus to build fitness and acclimate to travel, Jackson said she is accustomed to the physical exertion required.
"Everyone is tired," she said. "The other team is tired. They played on Friday too so I feel like we are pretty evenly matched."
One advantage college squads have is the number of substitutions and available players coaches have at their disposal. NCAA substitution rules allow any player to reenter after being substituted each half, and anyone listed on the game day roster is eligible to enter.
HOMECOMING FOR FRANCIS
Francis said he doesn't change tactics on Fridays to accommodate for the second games, but that the pace was usually slower on Sundays with coaches keeping more players behind the ball and utilizing their benches more frequently.
When Kansas plays SMU Sunday afternoon, it will be the first time the Coach Mark Francis has coached at his alma mater.
The Jayhawks battled to a 1-1 tie with the Mustangs last year in Lawrence, but Francis said he hadn't returned to his former stomping grounds except to recruit and watch a few men's games since he graduated in 1987.
SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 3B