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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012
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PAGE 11
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BLAKE SCHUSTER
bschuster@kansan.com
The Big 12 conference's powerhouses return strong
TEXAS
2011 RECORD:
8-5 (4-5 Big 12)
KEY RETURNERS
KEY RETURNS
QB David Ash, QB Case McCoy, RB Malcolm Brown,
WR Mike Davis, S Kenny Vaccaro,
DE Jackson Jeffcoat,
CB Quandre Diggs
KEY LOSSES:
RB Fozy Whittaker, G David Snow, FB Cody Johnson, DT Kheesten Randall, MLB Keenan Robinson, LB Emmanuel Acho, FS Blake Gideon
TOP NEWCOMERS:
Texas enters the 2012 season with the No. 2 ranked signing class in the nation according to Rivals.com. This is in large part because of the commitments of two five-star's, one a stopper, the other a speedster. Running back Jonathan Gray clocked a 4.4 second 40-yard dash while defensive tackle Malcolm Brown sports a 6-feet 2-inch 280 pound frame that registered 125 tackles,
24 sacks and nine forced fumbles during his three years starting at Brenham High School in Texas. Even with 15 four-star ranked prospects this year, Gray and Brown will be intriguing players as the Longhorns look to climb back up the rankings.
OVERVIEW:
After falling to Alabama in the 2010 BCS National Championship, Texas has entered each season with high hopes of another BCS bowl and found itself outside of the final AP Top 25. The biggest issue has been the inability to lock down a solid starting quarterback since the departure of Colt McCoy. Garet Gilbert was a total disappointment (2744 yards, 10 TD, 17 INT) in his only full year at the helm of the Longhorns offense in 2010 as Texas missed a bowl game for the first time since 1997. Gilbert lost his starting job two games into last season and has since transferred to Southern Methodist University, while Texas still searches for its answer behind center.
STORY TO WATCH:
When Gilbert was pulled two games into the 2011 season, the spotlight opened up for backup quarterbacks David Ash or Case McCoy to grab, but so far neither has. The duo shared time running Texas' offense but didn't put on the spectacular showing Mack Brown was looking for. Ash went 3-3 (1,068 yards, 4 TD, 8 INT). McCoy ended up 3-2 (1034 yards, 7 TD, 4 INT). Brown will continue to split snaps between Ash and McCoy until one solidifies himself as the quarterback Brown's team needs to get back on top of the Big 12.
THEY SAID IT:
"I've got 37 years that says it will probably happen, one way or the other. And usually the players will choose them for you if not."
... Mack Brown, on if one of his quarterbacks will solidify himself as the starter
OKLAHOMA
2011 RECORD:
10-3 (6-3 Big 12), 16th
AP
KEY RETURNERS:
KEY RETURNS:
QB Landry Jones, RB Dominique Whaley, WR Kenny Stills, DB Aaron Colvin, LB Corey Nelson, DB Tony Jefferson
KEY LOSSES:
WR Ryan Broyles, TE James Hanna, OL Donald Stephenson, LB Travis Lewis, DE Frank Alexander, DB Jamell Flemming
TOP NEWCOMERS:
The Sooners put an emphasis on offensive recruits while gathering their 2012 signees. Out of their top ten recruits ranked by Rivals, com only one plays defense — four-star linebacker Eric Striker. At the top of the class is wide receiver Trey Metoyer, a five-star recruit out of Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. In his senior school at Whitehouse High School, Metoyer gobbled 108
passes for 1540 yards and 23 touchdowns. Scout.com named Metoyer the second best wide receiver recruit in the nation, and he could become a favorite target of Landry Jones early on.
OVERVIEW:
Oklahoma enters the 2012 season ranked fourth by the AP and rightfully so. Aside from Ryan Broyles, who graduated, all of the big guns are returning on offense starting with quarterback Landry Jones and wide receiver Kenny Stills. As the number two wideout, Jones hooked up with Stills for 61 catches, 849 yards and eight touchdowns while Oklahoma's offense ranked 10th best in the nation in scoring and fifth in passing. Even with three current conference champions in the Big 12 (TCU, Oklahoma State, West Virginia) the preseason polls opened up with the Sooners grabbing the 2012 title.
STORY TO WATCH:
Three weeks after setting the FBS record for receptions (349) in Lawrence last season, Ryan Broyles had his season end in agon when he tore his ACL against Texas A&M. Broyles had been a pillar of Sooner football and his injury jarred the Oklahoma offense. The Sooners went 2-2 over their remaining four games after only losing one in their previous eight. The losses included a 45-38 heartbreak at Baylor and a 44-10 blowout at Oklahoma in the season finale. Oklahoma will need to be able to competently replace Broyles if they hope to capture a 44th conference title
THEY SAID IT:
"I didn't ask him to have to improve on anything. I asked about ten guys around him to improve."
- Head coach Bob Stoops on if he told quarterback Landry Jones to work on anything this summer
Williams is honored as soccer newcomer
RYAN MCCARTHY rmccarthy@kansan.com
On Tuesday, freshman soccer player Ashley Williams was named the Big 12 Soccer Newcomer of the Week. This was determined from the Albuquerque native's success in the matches played on Aug. 17 and 19. Williams scored two goals in two starts in the opening games of the season. Those two goals put her tied for the Big 12 distinction entering this weekend. Williams' first goal came as the game winner in the 97th minute against University of California, Santa Barbara on Aug. 17. Her second goal came as an equalizer early in the second
half on Aug. 19, tying the game. However, Kansas gave up a late goal to Northwestern University in a 2-1 overtime loss.
Williams came to Kansas with various accolades, including New Mexico State player of the year as a high school senior
the Week. Sophomore Ingrid Vidal was the last Jayhawk to be named the conference newcomer of the
Williams
in 2011. This is the sixth time the Jayhawks have had a soccer player named as the Big 12 Newcomer of
week on Sept. 6, 2011.
Kansas soccer hosts the Kansas Invitational this weekend at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex. Kansas will face the University of Georgia on Friday at 5 p.m. and will return to the field on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the University of
Edited by Allison Kohn
Jellyfish burn swim record hopes
Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad waves to her team after swimming a short distance from a support boat to shore in Key West, Fl., Tuesday, Aug. 21.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEY WEST, Fla. — Diana Nyad ended her fourth attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida on Tuesday, her decades-old dream thwarted, more than anything else, by jellyfish.
Storms brewing around her and repeated jellyfish stings forced her out of the water at 12:55 a.m., her crew said. She traveled by boat close to a rocky shoreline in Key West on Tuesday afternoon, just over 72 hours after setting out from Cuba. She made a final short swim to a waiting crowd.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"I've been dreaming of this crossing for 35 years now and tried it four times. And should I say that there no disappointment? No," she said. "I'm not going to get that moment of for so long."
Nyad turns 63 on Wednesday and, all told, logged 41 hours and 45 minutes of swim time. Her team acknowledged at 8 a.m., that she had to be pulled from the water, but said it had been about 20 minutes earlier, not nearly seven hours earlier as was the case. She also
Under rules set by the World Open Waters Swimming Association, she could emerge from the water and preserve her chance at a record if her life was in danger. All of that was made moot by the fact that she didn't finish.
spent time out of the water during a stormy Sunday night, though that was not acknowledged until Tuesday afternoon.
Her lips swollen from jellyfish
stings, she appeared weary as she was helped up from the water at her arrival in Key West.
"I'm not a quitter, but the sport and this particular ocean are different than they used to be," she said. "These jellyfish are prolific. And, you know what? To me, there's no joy in that."