THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY OCTOBER 22, 2009
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SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2009
9B
FOOTBALL
Freshman receiver gets experience on offense and defense
BY CLARK GOBLE
cgoble@kansan.com
cgoble@kansan.com
While being recruited by several college programs, Bradley McDougald sat down with his high school coach and came to a realization.
His coach noticed that McDougall, 6-foot-2, wasn't getting any taller. He also saw similarly sized players, namely Malcolm Jenkins from Ohio State, being drafted to play safety in the NFL. His coach said that if he wanted to play in the league in the future, it was probably going be at defensive back.
So McDougald saw a change from wide receiver to defensive back coming sometime in his career, but he didn't necessarily think it would be his freshman year. Originally committed to Ohio State, McDougald rescinded his commitment primarily because coach Jim Tressel wanted him to play defense only.
He came to Kansas to play receiver.
"I felt if I was going to make a big impact on the team it was going to be on the offensive side of the ball," McDougald said. "I felt that my body was physically ready to be an offensive player"
"He said the offense was going well and he didn't want to take anything from me from the offensive
But coach Mark Mangino called McDougall into his office a few weeks ago and asked him what he thought about a moderate change.
Follow Clark Goble at twitter.com/cgoble89.
side of the ball, but he wanted to maybe add on a little bit of defense and see how that worked out for me," McDougal said.
McDougald took a couple seconds to think about it, but then jumped at the opportunity to play
mer Kansas players Aqib Talib and Charles Gordon.
McDougald played three snaps on defense in Saturday's loss to Colorado, and expects to play more as the season goes on.
as well as trying to recruit to that," Mangino said. "Everybody is throwing the ball around and spreading the ball around, so I don't care who you have on defense. In the Big 12, there are just not a lot of low-scoring games anymore because the style that is being played is utilizing the entire field."
"I felt if I was going to make a big impact on the team it was going to be on the offensive side of the ball."
His practice time is now spent 75 percent on offense and 25 percent on defense, but each practice brings more defensive work. McDougald still considers himself an offensive player for now. For the season, McDougold has caught 21 passes for 226 yards.
Mangino said the move comes out of necessity, a stopgap for a leaky defensive secondary. He also praised McDougald's skill sets for both sides of the ball.
He also said he learned some
BRADLEY MCDOUGALD Freshman receiver
McDougald has tried a couple defensive positions already, but he said he thought he figured in best at safety.
"We have tried to put our most athletic guys and our guys that can play a physical-style ball on defense,
things playing receiver that would help on defense, including the realization that the receiver would generally try to go the opposite way the defensive back was playing. If the defender is playing inside, the receiver will shoot outside.
Freshman receiver Bradley McDougald fights off a Southern Mississippi defender. McDougald is playing defense in addition to offense.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
McDougald studies extra film with defensive coordinator Clint Bowen to help speed up the process. Bowen is trying to keep the defense as simple as possible at first. He told McDougald that he would get more defensive reps as he picked up the defensive schemes better.
Mangino said learning the nuances of a new position could be difficult.
"What you need is a young guy who is willing to do it, willing to understand the frustrations and disappointment early on, but I think if you have kids who are mentally
McDougald said playing both ways would be exciting but that it might be a little overwhelming at first.
tough, you can do it," Mangino said.
tyan Waggoner/KANSAN
"I have to make sure I'm on top of everything because mistakes are very costly in Division I and now that we're in conference play, they're going to become even more costly.
so I just have to make sure I know what I'm doing" McDougald said.
Edited by Tim Burgess
MLB
Philadelphia headed to another World Series
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Powered by Ryan Howard. Jayson Werth and all those other big bats, the Philadelphia Phillies are headed back to the World Series.
Worth hit two home runs,
Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz
also connected and the defending
champions beat the Los
Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in Game
5 on Wednesday night to win
their second straight NL pen-
nant.
Brad Lidge closed it out and the Phillies became the first team to reach consecutive World Series since the New York Yankees in 2000-01.
Now, Jimmy Rollins and crew wait for their next opponent. They'll go for their third World Series title beginning next Wednesday night at New York or Los Angeles. The Yankees lead the Angels 3-1 in the ALCS, which resumes Thursday night at Angel Stadium.
Philadelphia overcame another shaky outing by 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP Cole Hamels.
Meanwhile, slugger Manny Ramirez, manager Joe Torre and the rest of the Dodgers go home after leading the NL with 95 wins in the regular season and sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the division series.
After beating Tampa Bay in last year's World Series, the Phillies are trying to become the first repeat champions from the NL since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76. The Yankees were the last team to win consecutive titles when they captured three in a row from 1998-2000.
Los Angeles closed to 9-4 in the eighth, but Ryan Madson escaped a bases-loaded jam by striking out Russell Martin and retiring Casey Blake on a grounder to shortstop.
Andre Ethier, James Loney and pinch-hitter Orlando Hudson hit solo homers for the Dodgers, who also lost to the Phillies in five games in last year's NLCS.
Five pitchers tossed 4 2-3 strong innings in relief of an ineffective Hamels, who hasn't been the dominant ace he was last postseason.
VOLLEYBALL
Kansas sweeps Texas before taking on Tigers
Weston White/KANSAI
Senior setter Martinicin digs a serve from a Texas player Oct. 14, Kansas will play its next three games at home.
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
The Kansas volleyball team is now on its first Big 12 Conference winning streak of the year. Kansas swept Texas Tech 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20) Wednesday and is now 11-9 (4-6). Texas Tech falls to 2-16 (0-9), continuing to struggle in Big 12 play.
The win doubles the number of Big 12 road victories Kansas had in 2008 when it posted a 1-9 record on the road in the Big 12.
The game against Texas Tech could have been easy to overlook
coming off a big win against Kansas State. And with Missouri in the near future, Kansas stayed focus on Texas Tech, coach Ray Bechard said.
The team did what it needed to do to get the win and took care of.
Follow Zach Getz at twitter.com/zgetz
Kansas has had several bad starts at the beginning of first sets this season, and Texas Tech was no
business, junior outside hitter Karina Garlington said.
exception. Kansas realized that the team needed to step up and play together if it wanted to come back, sophomore outside hitter Allison Mayfield said.
"It was another good road win to get under our belt," Garlington said. "We're pretty pleased with how we played."
"That was kind of encouraging to know that even though we got down in the beginning, we found a way to fight back and get right back in it."
"It was another good road win to get under our belt. We're pretty pleased with how we played."
KARINA GARLINGTON Junior outside hitter
Mayfield said.
Kansas held Texas Tech to an impressive .050 hitting percentage, which Bechard attributed to a good defensive game plan.
Junior libero Melissa Manda had a team high 19 digs and senior defensive specialist Melissa Grieb
was right behind with 14 dsigs. On the offensive side Mayfield had a team high 15 kills.
Kansas started slow in first set, falling behind 2-8. The Jayhawks then scored eight of the next 10 points to the score. Kansas went on a few more small runs and defeated Texas Tech 25-17.
SET SCORES
Kansas 25 25 25
Texas Tech 17 17 20
UPCOMING GAMES
MISSOURI AT KANSAS
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24th
WHERE: Horeisi Family
Athletic Center, Lawrence
UMKC AT KANSAS
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 27th
WHERE: Horesei Family
Athletic Center, Lawrence
Kansas started by scoring the first five points in second set. Kansas had another five-point run later that helped propel Kansas to a 25-17 victory.
Texas Tech stayed competitive for most of the third set, keeping the score close. A strong push late helped Kansas win the set 25-20.
Kansas will start a three-game home stand this weekend when the team continues the Border Showdown with Missouri.
Edited by Alicia Banister