Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Getting their game on Women's soccer will play Drake in its first game of the fall season. SPORTS I 8A
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2009
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Talib adds to list of offenses Former Kansas player is arrested for battery in latest transgression. SPORTS I 8A
FOOTBALL
PAGE 10A
Opurum remains modest off field
STOPPING THE SPREAD
It isn't hard to like freshman running back Toben Opurum
Before he ever set foot on the Lawrence campus for school, he spurned the advances of one of the most storied programs in the country — Notre Dame — to commit to the Jayhawks. He looked at Florida.
Opurum, a freshman out of Plano, Texas, is perhaps the highest-profile recruit Kansas has landed in the Mark Mangino era. He isn't flashy. He isn't loud. He isn't about to make any brash predictions of 2,000-yard seasons in his first year at the program.
Instead he quietly goes about his business, even at media day when journalists stand in a semi-circle around him with microphones and recorders comparing him to former Kansas running back Brandon McAnderson, though Opurum has never set foot on Kivisto Field for a college football game.
The comparison is easily, albeit prematurely, drawn, due to the fact that Opurum is big and strong and wears number 35, which hasn't been seen on the offensive side of the ball since McAnderson's departure.
But when a question is posed about the similarities, Opurum only chuckles softly and says he is honored to have comparisons drawn between himself and someone who saw so much success in his college career. There is no mention of the fact that should Opurum's career pan out like the recruiting experts say, he very well could surpass any of McAnderson's accomplishments.
Though humility may preclude him from admitting it, there are plenty of reasons for Jayhawk fans to be excited about Opurum on the field. For starters, he is the team's best shot to have a consistent power back to complement incumbent starter Jake Sharp since McAnderson. Despite flashes of brilliance from Angus Quigley — I don't think poor Texas defensive back Blake Gideon has managed to scrape himself off the Kivisto Field turf just yet — he never regularly performed to a level that coach Mark Mangino thought was necessary, and he's now been flipped to the defensive side of the ball.
Opurum, on the other hand, already has Mangino, as well as senior captain Sharp, speaking highly of him. Both coach and capita praised Opurum's work ethic.
"I've always said that if someone listens to their coaches and works hard, they'll make it," Sharp said. "He just puts his head down and gets to work."
"The spread offense has taken over high school football," Opurum said. "I feel like I'm pretty comfortable running it."
He'll be able to work in a familiar offense as well, which should ease the transition to the college game. Opurum's high school years were filled with the spread offense and he showed ability as a blocker, runner and receiver in the offense.
The only thing he doesn't seem to run is his mouth.
Running it, whether it is the football or the offense, is something that he has proved to do well.
— Edited by Lauren Cunningham
Weston White/KANSAN
Darrell Stuckey, Kansas safety, tackles a Colorado player at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 11, 2008. Kansas won the game beating Colorado 30-14. Stuckey was an All-Big 12 first team selection last season. He will lead the secondary rotation this year.
Secondary in sync for season
An experienced and confident squad has Kansas optimistic
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
Perhaps no player experienced last season's secondary shakeup quite like sophomore Daymond Patterson. So it's here, with Patterson, where the story begins.
The move flung new responsibilities onto the shoulders of a young player still grasping the details of the college game and
An early-contributing receiver on Kansas' high-powered offense, Patterson moved to cornerback, shifting his focus to stopping the same routes he once ran.
sharpened Patterson's learning curve.
"Last year they were out there making sure I was in the right position," Patterson said. "Now
I'm helping other people get in position, making calls, and I know the defense now. If you don't know the defense, it's really hard.
"You can't hesitate. You have to know and then you have to react."
But what was once an uncertain piece of the defense has developed into Kansas' most reliable—and deep—unit this season. The layhawks return five players with
Patterson's situation isn't unique. In fact, it's the most common tale of a Kansas secondary that flipped, switched and moved positions throughout the first half of the season.
"Now I'm helping other people get in position, making calls and I know the defense now."
The first few games, it was hard for me to see it and react.
DAYMOND PATTERSON Kansas cornerback
at least six starts.
"This year, when you see a certain route you know that (Darrell) Stuckey is coming down to take him so you can back off. Instead of 'Is he coming, is he coming?' Patterson said. "The second-ary being able to play
together throughout the end of the season, I think the communication is second nature. We can look at each other and know what's going on."
Ah, communication. Each member of the secondary highlighted it as the most noticeable
improvement this season. But what, exactly, does enhanced communication amount to?
Without uncertainty in the secondary, several players said
over thinking should surface more this season. In turn, the chance of making more gameaffecting plays also increases.
" W e ' ve become close-minded in the
secondary," junior cornerback Chris Harris said. "We're starting to know what people will do in certain situations."
media last Tuesday - the Jayhawks featured five defensive backs on the field.
"He proved he could play at a high level and execute the defense."
What's less certain is the offseason scheme changes Kansas made. During the spring game - and during a practice open to the
But coach Mark Mangino insisted that Kansas isn't switching
DARRELL STUCKEY Kansas safety
to a 4-2-5 defensive scheme as previously reported. Mangino said the Jayhawks will still use a 4-3 alignment as their base defense and that the changes in the secondary were minor.
package," Mangino said. "We'll put some new calls in there and change up some responsibilities. As you watch it from the press box, you're not going to know the difference from this year's defense
"What we made a decision to do is to modify our nickel
SEE SECONDARY ON PAGE 6A
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jayhawks prepare for season with high expectations
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
The men's basketball team is fully assembled and ready to start team workouts.
They do so with the privilege of being the top ranked team in the nation. Veterans like junior center Cole Aldrich know it is just a number.
"I can't say it's not cool (to be ranked number one)," he said. "Really it doesn't mean anything until that last buzzer sounds in Indianapolis."
Veterans on the team can spend more time improving themselves this season, instead of having to groom a largely inexperienced group as they did after the 2007-08 starting lineup departed.
"Last year at the beginning of the season we were teaching a lot of effort and a lot of different stuff." Aldrich said. "Now we can really focus in on just getting better ourselves."
Junior center Cole Aldrich speaks to members of the media afternoon prior to a workout. The Jayhawks are currently preparing for the coming season.
"I feel like once you're a part of the team, you're a part of the team and we're going to treat you like everybody else" he said. "I don't think our team chemistry should be a problem at all."
Tyshawn Taylor said, there will be no lack of team unity.
The addition of freshman guard Xavier Henry caused a stir but he is trying to improve himself as much as he can to help this team succeed.
"My experience is I'm trying to set the highest standards for myself just to push myself to work harder," he said. "If you have high standards, there's no limit to where you can go."
However, sophomore guard
Weston White/KANSAN
Henry's brief display of talent has already left an impression on his tennates.
"He's athletic," Aldrich said. "That's one thing that makes him fit with our team. He's going to be able to shoot the ball and take people off the dribble."
With the additions of freshmen big Jeff Withey and Thomas
"Everybody everyday in practice is competing and going against each other because they know they're fighting for minutes," he said.
Aldrich spent his summer working on his leg strength to compete with the stronger bigs like Dexter Pittman from Texas. Aldrich spent time in Ohio at LeBron James' camp and Arizona for Amare Stoudemire's.
Robinson, Aldrich said, not only is there depth, but also competition.
He is also touted as one of the top players in the nation.
"I think that'd be cool," Aldrich said of being college basketball's number one player. "One thing that would make me proud and the rest of the Big 12 is if anyone from the Big 12 is able to do that again. Over the past years we've been able to have guys from our conference represent our country."
If Aldrich has the season many people expect, his stock in the
NBA draft will make him close to a top pick (he is already a top 10 pick according to ESPN.com). Being a junior, he still has a long way to go to make the decision to enter the draft. But this season is all that matters right now.
"You never really can sav I'm for
sure doing this, I'm for sure doing that," he said. "I'm just going to take it day by day and just try to put myself and our team in the best positions that we can"
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Edited by Jonathan Hermes
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