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GRAD STUDENT HITS OLYMPICS
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
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COMMENTARY
FOOTBALL
A year after perfection, is there any magic left?
Todd Reesing wandered around the turf at Memorial Stadium the other day slowly pacing
the other day, slowly pacing between the hash marks. Reeing had nowhere to be, and he looked content strutting around his field like a happy-go-lucky alpha dog admiring his lot. It was media day for the Kansas football program, and it was that awkward time when players are herded and dragged around like pet rocks, and they pose for photos, and they are asked the same questions 47 times.
Two-hundred and fourteen days after Reesing led the Jayhawks to the biggest victory in Kansas football history Reesing found himself near the 45-yard line, huddled with Kansas' quarterbacks, setting up another canned photo-op.
But one quarterback was missing.
but one quarterback was missing. "Hey," Reeing yelled. Kale Pick, Kansas' blue chip freshman quarterback from Dodge City was standing on the sideline, looking for a reprieve from the smothering July heat.
"Kale, what are you doing?" Reesing joshed. "Come on, rook."
Senior linebacker Mike Rivera (40) leads the defense at the beginning of open practice Friday morning at Memorial Stadium. Rivera and fellow seniors James Holt and Joe Mortenon return to anchor what may be one of the nations best defense teams. The Jahawks lost only two players, Aqib Talib and James McClinton from the 2007 squad that finished ranked N. 12 nationally.
There are so many questions to ask as Kansas enters this football season. The Jayhawks are in the precarious position of being ranked No. 15 in the USA Today/Coaches' poll, while seemingly being underrated and overrated all at the same time.
Some think this season's harder schedule will prove last year a fluke, while others are banking that Kansas will validate last season by beating the big boys of the Big 12 this year.
But there's one question you really want to ask Reeing.
Jon Goering/XANSAN
Now what?
Does the kid they call Sparky have any magic left in those stubby arms and legs?
It all seemed so easy last year. Reeing made play after play. Kansas rode a hodgepodge crew of unheralded recruits to an Orange Bowl title. And three months later, Bill Self saw Mark Mangino's Orange Bowl and raised him a national title.
SEE DODD ON PAGE 7B
AIMING HIGHER
With a tough schedule ahead, Jayhawk football hopes to repeat last season's success
BY B.J. RAINS bjrains@kansan.com
How do you top the greatest year in school history? That's the task facing coach Mark Mangino and the Kansas football team as they prepare to host Florida International in the season opener next Saturday.
The Jayhawks will face a much tougher schedule in 2008 and also will be without several key players including Aqib Talib and Anthony Collins, who left school early for the NFL. Add in the hype and expectations surrounding a team coming off of a 12-1 record and an Orange Bowl Championship and it figures to be an almost impossible task for Mangino and the Jayhawks.
Don't tell that to the players though, who seem to have an extra bounce in their step.
"We have that swagger," safety Darrell Stuckey said.
And as the Jayhawks look to repeat the success of last year's record-breaking year,
they are doing it with a different kind of 'swagger' that hasn't been seen around this town in a long time.
"We have a selves," quarterback "Not that we lacked confidence before, but we really expect to be on the big stage now."
"We have a lot of confidence in ourselves," quarterback Todd Reesing said.
The Jayhawks will definitely enter the big stage this fall, starting the year ranked 13th in the USA Today Coaches poll. ESPN2 has already picked the Jayhawks for a nationally-televised Friday night game at No. 21 South Florida in the three season of the week
again in 2008, they will have to find new playmakers to step up and take over for the veteran group who departed after last season. In addition to Talib and Collins, second team All-American defensive tackle James McClinton is gone, as is the team's leading rusher Brandon McAnderson and leading receiver Marcus Henry. Tight end Derrick Fine is now a member of the Buffalo Bills and kicker Scott Webb and punter Kyle Tucker are both missing as well.
"We have a lot of confidence in ourselves. Not that we lacked confidence before, but we really expect to be on the big stage now."
But if the Jayhawks want to taste success
"We're excited by that," Reesing said. "To have the opportunity to play in big games and play on national television, it's exciting for us, because it's somewhere that this program hasn't been in a while."
TODD REESING Kansas quarterback
visible than Talib, whose flashy play and swagger on both sides of the ball helped put Kansas on the national scene.
Nobody's absence, however, will be more
The lajhawks seem to be better prepared to fill the holes on defense, with only Talib and McClinton not returning from a squad that finished 12th nationally in
total defense. All three linebackers Joe
Mortensen, James Holt, and Mike Rivera
— are back and will anchor what should be one of the nation's best defenses again in 2008.
The challenge will be tougher on offense, where the Jayhawks must replace five starters including both tackles, a tight end, running back and wide receiver. More than 2,000 yards of offense, including more than 1,000 receiving yards from Henry and 1,000 rushing yards from McAnderson, must come from other players this fall.
"We have a lot of guys who played last year and made a lot of big plays for us," quarterback Todd Resing said. "Just because we lost a tight end and a receiver to the NFL, which were two huge players for us, we still have a lot of guys who can fill those voids. They might not be as good at certain things as those guys were but they are going to bring their own potential and capabilities to the table."
SEEFOOTBALLPAGE4B
MEN'S BASKETBALL SUMMER IN REVIEW
Self inks new deal
BY CASE KEEFER ckeefer@kansan.com
So far this offseason, Self has signed a contract to keep him at Kansas until 2018. Arthur was cleared of any high school eligibility issues, Case joined the coaching staff, and five Jayhawks were drafted by NBA teams.
Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins announced that Kansas coach Bill Self would lead the Jayhawks for years to come in an April press conference.
He wasn't lying. Self signed a new contract to stay in Lawrence that runs through 2018.The details of the deal were released two weeks ago.
The contract provides a financial boost too. Self will make $3 million per year, nearly doubling his old contract that paid him $1.6 million. He could make up to an additional $425,000 each year by reaching incentives.
"I have said many times I cannot imagine a better place to play, or to coach, than the University of Kansas," Self said.
Arthur cleared in grade scandal
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kansas' national title is in no way tainted.
Concerns arose at the end of May when a Dallas television station reported that former Kansas star Darrell Arthur's grades had been changed while in high school to keep him eligible to
play basketball. If the allegations made by Winford Ashmore, a math teacher at South Oak Cliff High in Dallas, were true, then Arthur wouldn't have raised high schools
But the Dallas Independent School District cleared Arthur's name last week when it released a statement saying no improprieties had occurred. The school district started an investigation into the allegations after the release of the story in May.
have passed high school or been eligible
to play college basketball.
Collins faces civil suit
Junior guard Sherron Collins will have to wait seven more months before his legal troubles are settled.
A civil lawsuit against Collins is set to be heard in April 2009. Jessica J.Brown, a former Jayhawker Towers employee, accused Collins of exposing himself and rubbing onto her in a complex elevator in May 2007.
he filed a civil lawsuit against Collins three months ago. Collins never responded to the claim and a Douglas County judge ordered him to pay Brown more than $75,000 in a default ruling.
The judge has since rescinded the default ruling. Criminal charges won't be filed as the county said it has insufficient evidence.
"I am 100 percent innocent of any inappropriate behavior," Collins said.
SEE SUMMER ON PAGE 6B
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KANSAN FILE PHOTO
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