THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2009
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SPORTS
5B
FOOTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
a game of tug-of-war: two players battling over one ballad and taped towel. Yet there's something more, something that grinds and shapes players' mentalities.
"You can't lose that drill." Cornish said. "If you lose that, you're not going to necessarily be humiliated, but you're going to feel bad because you lost. And you lost in front of every single one of your teammates so you won't be able to live it down for a few days. That's more than enough motivation for most guys."
Then there's the drill called the farmer's walk. During designated competition days, the Jayhawks divide into relay teams and alternate between carrying base weights in a race format.
Without bars connecting the 70 and 80 pound weights, players learn on the fly the proper technique for handling the unusually shaped weights. And with the emphasis placed on team competition, a pressure factor is added to the drill.
"You don't ask the kids to be tougher. It's not that you shout and holler and tell them they have to be tougher and get after it." Mangino said. "No, you hold them to a high standard. You finish every drill. You finish every play."
Mangino's standards for toughness reach beyond the physical realm.
"When you think you don't have anything else, you're able to give a little bit more." Mangino said. "When things are tough and in a tight game, the guy that's mentally tough is going to stand up and make a play."
Mangino's first recruiting class included a list of players that either fit or developed into more than suitable examples of that philosophy.
David Ochoa entered Kansas as a 255-pound center who bulked up to 285 pounds and earned All Big 12 second team honors as a senior. Bob Whitaker played and started at offensive line despite two horrible knees that forced him to hobble between plays.
Nick Reid, Kevin Kane and Banks Floodman, a Terry Allen recruit, became stalwarts at linebacker and are revered as much for their work habits as for their accomplishments on the field.
"There are not three linebackers that I would take over those three guys in the country," Whittimore said. "Honestly, Outsized, probably not quick enough or heavy enough, but those guys got the job done. That's what these guys see when they see that work ethic day in and day out."
Yet it's Reid who most stands out.
Originally lured to Kansas as a quarterback, Reid switched to linebacker early in his career and became the walking symbol of toughness for the Kansas football program.
NOTES FROM
KANSAS' UPDATED
DEPTH CHART
■ Junior Brad Thorson, who is also Kansas' backup center, has been listed as a first-team guard along with junior Sal Capra. Thorson transferred from Wisconsin before the start of last season.
The three linebackers on the first-team are junior Justin Springer, junior Drew Dudley and senior Arist Wright.
■ Freshman Toben Opurm and sophomore Rell Lewis were listed together as backups to senior running back Jake Sharp. The two will likely
share carries this season.
Sophomore quarterback Kale Pick is currently Todd Reesing's backup. There was much speculation during the offseason whether Pick would replace wide receiver Kerry Meier as the reserve quarterback.
Senior Justin Thornton is listed as the first team safety after moving to cornerback at the end of the last season. He replaces junior Phillip Stroizer,
- Sophomore Darius Parish is listed as the backup right tackle. Parish moved from defensive tackle to offensive tackle before the start of fall practices in early August.
In his senior season, the Derby native earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors over future NLFlers Michael Huff and Cedric Griffin.
"He might not have been the biggest guy or the fastest guy but he just worked and worked and worked." Cornish said. "He was a prime example for the rest of us to who we should aspire to be"
And so the chain reaction began.
--going to cut any corners, and he's going to do every little thing he needs to do to get the job done. The last three bowl games we've won, we literally won because we out-toughed the other team."
Cornish walked onto campus in 2002 an introverted thinker with a brash confidence about his athletic ability. Naturally, then, he watched the work and day-to-day grind taking place with a skeptic's view his first couple of years.
The process to reaching that point is much like the most basic steps of a waterfall.
But as he matured, so, too, did his perception of Mangino's concept, one that sounds easily installed yet is often much more difficult to apply.
"You have guys that come in and they were like me, they don't really buy into the whole thing," Cornish said. "They're like, 'No, I'm good the way I am.' But you start to see how hard the guys older than you work and how bad they want it. That really does affect you as a player."
First, there must be a source. And without a doubt Kansas' mentality starts with Mangino, who employs the same approach to coaching as he preaches to his players.
With a program in need of severe repair — and with facilities ranking near the bottom of the Big 12 in 2002 — Mangino relied on a tireless work ethic and relentless persistence to drive the program from its disappointing past.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
"I think every team reflects the personality of its coach," senior safety Darrell Stuckey said. "Coach Mangino is a very blue-collared guy. He's one of those guys that's not
But to function properly, a source must have an outlet to carry the water — or message — to the next step. Mangino funneled that tough-minded philosophy to his players, who in turn tricked the message down to incoming recruits.
It's a cycle and pattern that developed a program-wide mindset.
"Having coached at other schools in the conference before I went to Kansas, the label on Kansas was they weren't very tough," Mangino said. "If I was going to be the football coach at Kansas — I'm used to being around tough teams — we were going to have to be tougher."
--if you love to play football, the toughness is there."
Toughness can be cultivated and learned throughout the course of a season or career, but it's also a trait Mangino and his staff search for while recruiting.
Toughness isn't measurable. It's even hard to fully prove. But players past and present adamantly insist it's there inside every player seeing the field.
"We're not a team who's going to have all the five-star or four-star recruits," Cantrell said. "We're going to have guys who are willing to put the hours in the weight room, the film room and even in the training room if we need to. We have those guys who are willing to put that time in so they can get on the field and do what they love to do."
The love and desire to play football is an intangible aspect sought after by the Kansas staff, and it's something that usually jells with Mangino's ideas on toughness.
"We try to recruit tough kids. Sometimes we fail in that area, but we like kids that love to play this game," Mangino said. "I think
Senior linebacker Arist Wright battles against sophomore lineman Michael Martinovich during a drill Tuesday morning at the Anderson Football Complex practice fields.
Surely to seal the deal you need examples.
What about that cold day in Nebraska last season when Todd Reeing took a crunching hit from a blitzing defender, remained on his feet and found Kerry Meier open for a touchdown?
Or against Missouri last year in the snow, when Kansas entered the game with impact players aling but still managed to scrape out a victory?
Or the Orange Bowl in 2008 when Kansas faced a bigger, faster and more nationally respected Virginia Tech team, only to turn around and defeat the Hokies at their own game?
If the idea hasn't completely soaked in by now, how about listening to Ryan Cantrell one
"There isn't one guy who's out there actually playing that hasn't proven himself to be tough," Cantrell said. "Coach Mangino prides himself on that. We have the toughest players out there, there's no doubt about that in my mind."
more time?
Edited by Amanda Thompson
FRESHMEN (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
because of coaching instability. To them this is just a new environment, but the situation remains the same when it comes to school and basketball.
C. J. credits a bulk of his maturing to his stint in minor league baseball. He was drafted in 2005 and played on the minor teams for both the Yankees and the Phillies.
"I was on my own at 18 and you have to learn and you have to grow up," he said. "The first day on the job, it becomes a real business. You're getting paid to play. When you're getting paid, they expect results and performance."
Withey said he was impressed with the atmosphere of Lawrence in comparison with the West Coast, where he's from.
"Everyone's real quiet and nice," he said. "It's real friendly. I get along with everybody here."
Considering the pressure of joining a team contending for a championship, all the freshmen said it was a positive feeling. No player seems the least bit intimidated.
"We have a lot of pressure because we have to step up and contribute right away," Withey said. "It's fun always having a lot of pressure for you to perform."
Johnson echoed Withey's sentiments and said that although college basketball could be overwhelming, it was still fun.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience that coach Self gave me," he said. "I'm trying to take advantage of it."
— Edited by Amanda Thompson
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