+
sports
+
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, SEPT. 26, 2016
FOLLOW THE LEADER
Despite rough play, Montell Cozart has become KU football's leader
▶ SEAN COLLINS
@Seanzie_UDK
Ashley Hocking/KANSAN
Junior wide receiver Bobby Hartzog Jr. and redshirt junior quarterback Montell Cozart celebrate during the season opener at Memorial Staidum. The team won 55-6.
Junior wide receiver LaQuvionte Gonzalez looked up at an incoming punt. Then, just for a second, Gonzalez glanced down at the incoming wall of Ohio defenders charging toward him.
Just enough time for a collapse.
The punt plummeted though Gonzalez's hands and onto the Memorial Stadium turf. In his pursuit to gain the possession the Jayhawks so desperately needed, down 28-14 with under a minute left in the third quarter, Gonzalez tripped. The Ohio punt team swarmed the ball near the Jayhawks' 10-yard line. First and goal for Ohio.
In a time when Gonzalez needed assurance, when he had fumbled two times in only his second game with the Jayhawks, redshirt junior quarterback Montell Cozart rushed to his side. As Gonzalez jogged back to the sideline, Cozart was right there. It was Cozart, Jayhawks' starting quarterback through the first three weeks, who kept Gonzalez's head on straight.
"Keep your head up," Cozart remembers telling him. "The defense told us they were gonna get the ball back."
In his third year as a Jayhawk, Cozart has managed to develop into a bonafide leader and captain of a team that needs leadership now just to stay afloat. Cozart was injured in week four of the 2015 season, and spent the rest of the year on the sideline. While Cozart has struggled with
the Jayhawks, his leadership earned him captain at the beginning of the 2016 season.
"For that guy to be voted and looked at that highly, that tells you what his teammates think of him," coach David Beaty said after he was named captain. "That's a good deal for us. He's one of those guys that does everything you ask him to do and more."
Cozart had one of his worst performances of his college career last Saturday, as Kansas was routed by Memphis, 43-6. He threw for only 87 yards and turned the ball over three times, seeming to kill any
offense the Jayhawks could muster.
But after the game, Cozart didn't just fold, or let the game haunt him into the next week. Instead, Cozart texted Beaty on Monday and requested that him and senior safety Fish Smithson speak to the entire team after practice. And so, the captain spoke.
"I told them that game was on me," Cozart said. "I feel like I let everyone down turning the ball over and not giving us a chance."
"I was letting those guys know that I'm being a man and being responsible for my actions," Cozart said.
For Cozart, speaking to the team wasn't about relieving himself from blame of the loss, but to show he's ready to bounce back.
Cozart's personal meeting with the team after practice made leaps and bounds for both him and his team.
Even after one of the toughest games of his careers, Cozart's personal meeting with the team not only entrenched him as the team's leader, but it made some players look up to him.
"We respect him," sophomore defensive tackle Daniel Wise said. "It speaks volumes to the team for him to step up and do that."
In some ways, Cozart's leadership and how his teammates perceive him off the field has upstaged his play on the field.
He's one of those guys that does everything you ask him to do and more."
David Beaty Coach
After the loss to Memphis, wide receivers coach Jason Phillips was still content with Cozart as a leader.
"His teammates believe in him," Phillips said. "That's why he was voted captain by his teammates."
The discussion Cozart and Smithson had with the team seemed to be a crucial one. When going into the Big 12 season with a roster that still appears a notch under the rest of the talent in the Big 12, chemistry and togetherness can't be an issue.
It doesn't appear to be an issue for the Jayhawks now. Whether it be from the sideline or on the on the field, Cozart is the Jayhawks' offensive leader and a captain they can rely on.
Edited by Ilana Karp
A look inside Bill Self's annual boot camp
▶ CHRISTIAN S. HARDY
@ByHardy
The Jayhawks warm up before day five of boot camp on Sept. 23.
The start of the Kansas basketball season does not come in Allen Fieldhouse, with 16,300 eager fans coated in crimson and blue. It doesn't start with the alma mater or newspaper shreds thrown into the air and floating back into the student section as the public announcer lists Kansas' starting lineup.
Missu Minear/KANSAN
The start of the season is senior guard Frank Mason III in the locker room before the sun has even come up, preparing for the fifth day of Bill Self's boot camp when the only sound outside is insects buzzing. About 90 minutes later, it's Mason with his hands on his knees after almost 25 sprints, missing Self's expected time by a second or two, then snapping at his teammates, "Sprint! Come on." And then it's the line of blue Kansas basketball t-shirts running again.
It's the managers and coaches clapping along through the two minutes on jumping rope in this one-court practice gym off to the side of Allen Fieldhouse. It's the constant squeaking
of Adidas basketball shoes and an occasional line of encouragement from Self or assistant coach Jerrance Howard. It's nearly an hour of these conditioning drills without a basketball in sight.
Then it's sophomore forward Carlton Bragg Jr. shuffling, putting his hands up as to defend assistant coach Kurtis Townsend — who's standing stationary — letting out a brief "ah!" then
shuffling further down the court in a zig-zag motion.
"They're trying hard. They're getting in pretty good shape," Self said after practice. "We just want guys to go hard right now. Just to get their feet in shape and of course to get
This is the fifth day — the halfway point — of Self's 2016 boot camp. It's a conditioning extravaganza that lasts no more than 50 minutes each day.
their conditioning."
This is the first chance for freshmen, like guard Josh Jackson, to show the team what kind of players they are, but also show coaches just how conditioned they are. While Mason led the way on most sprints, Jackson consistently trailed just a few steps behind.
Through one week of conditioning, the No. 1 recruit has especially impressed Self. While
veterans like Mason have taken much of the leadership upon themselves, Jackson has done a bit of that, too.
"Josh hasn't surprised us in any way," Self said. "Other than he is what they said he was from a competitive standpoint."
On these days when a basketball never touches the court, it can be difficult to find the standouts. But Self listed a few things that can
separate some: "quickness, staying in his stance, being able to recover quickly, not worrying about where the finish line is, just going as hard as you can and know you're going to eventually get there."
He's been impressed with the whole team when it comes to those things, but especially sophomore guard Lagerald Vick.
"For me, it'd be hard to beat Lagerald," Self said when he was asked of the first week's MVP. "Frank and Josh and Lagerald — those guys — they can pretty much go all day."
With just over a week before Late Night, Self seems pleased with how the Jayhawks have started the season. On the toughest sprints of the day — nine full-court lengths — Self added a few seconds to the target time to make it easier on the team.
After a huddle and praise from Self, the players walked away from the court, done with the fifth day of boot camp before 7 a.m.
.
1