FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 9A
FOOTBALL
Starter to be decided at walk-through
South Florida forces a fumble from Adam Barmann, senior quarterback, during Saturday's game. If Kerry Meier's injury prevents him from starting against Nebraska, Barmann will start for the second straight game.
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
Quarterback Kerry Meier may be healthy enough to play Saturday
Kerry Meier was seen throwing a football around with other quarterbacks after practice Wednesday night at Memorial Stadium.
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
Kansas coach Mark Mangino is holding out hope that his freshman quarterback will be healthy enough to play Saturday at Nebraska.
But what that says about his status for Saturday's game is still unclear.
"Iis he ready to play today? No, but we don't play today," Mangino said. "Could he be ready by Saturday? Yes, he could be. But we just don't know."
He said a decision was likely to be made during the team's walkthrough Friday morning at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.
It's presumed that senior Adam Barmann would start for the second straight game if Meier was unable to play.
Against South Florida last week, Barmann completed nearly 70 percent of his passes and threw for 273 yards, with no interceptions.
Barmann said he understood that if Meier was healthy, he might return to the bench.
"As soon as he's ready to go, he'll go," Barmann said. "I'll just keep preparing myself the same way. I get ready each and every day, just in case."
Meier suffered an undisclosed injury to his right arm during a loss
FOOTBALL
to Toledo two weeks ago. Days after the game, Mangino said he was told that Meier suffered the injury early in the fourth quarter after having his arm driven in to the ground after a quarterback rushing play. Despite the injury, Meier convinced Mangino to leave him in the game. Meier threw two interceptions after the injury, one in the fourth quarter and another in the second overtime against the Rockets.
In the three games he's played in this season, Meier has completed nearly 55 percent of his passes, thrown six touchdowns and seven interceptions. On the ground, he's rushed for 146 yards and four touchdowns.
Football Notes:
Injury Update: After missing the season's first four games, Mangino said sophomore safety James Holt would see limited action Saturday. Holt suffered an undisclosed injury during the team's training camp early last month.
Redshirt-freshman defensive back Darrell Stuckey was also injured during the training camp, but Mangino said he would not be ready in time to play this weekend.
Cornhuskers' persistence, unity present new challenge to Jayhawks
Kansan senior sportswriter Ryan Schneider can be contacted at rschneider@kansan.com.
Edited by Elyse Weidner
This season, Nebraska has been untouchable at home and has shown
BY SHAWN SHROYER
If Kansas is expecting to face the same Nebraska team that it beat 40-15 last season at home, it is sorely mistaken.
"Persistence and a belief in what we're doing from a team concept," Callahan said. "It all came together particularly after that game."
No. 21 Nebraska has lost only one game since its meeting with Kansas last November, and coach Bill Callahan said two things had led to the Cornhuskers' success.
no ill effects from its loss on the road to Southern California two weeks ago. The key for the Cornhuskers thus far has been balance across the board, starting with senior quarterback Zac Taylor.
Taylor has been nothing if not consistent this season, completing 70.8 percent of his passes. He has also thrown just two interceptions in 89 attempts. Kansas coach Mark Mangino has noticed Taylor's improvement from last season.
"He looks a lot more confident in the pocket," Mangino said. "He seems to be delivering the ball on time with more regularity. You can tell by his
presence on the field that he feels more control as the quarterback."
Nebraska's rushing attack is a fourheaded monster, led by sophomore Marlon Lucky. He is averaging 7.2 yards per touch, has yet to be taken down behind the line and have five touchdowns. He was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Troy last week.
"Marlon has acquired a good feel for the system, and he has confidence in his ability to read and cut," Callahan said.
Senior tight end Matt Herian is the feel-good story of the year for Nebraska. He has played well this
season with 135 receiving yards and two touchdowns after missing all of last season and part of 2004 because of a broken leg.
Even with questions surrounding who will play quarterback for Kansas on Saturday, Callahan said the Blackshirts were more focused on playing the same way they had all season, which has been nearly impregnable.
At home, the Blackshirts have allowed opponents to convert only nine of 38 third downs. In Lincoln, opponents have reached the redzone just twice and are averaging 5.7 points per game.
Nebraska's linebackers have led the defense so far with senior Stewart Bradley and juniors Corey McKeon and Bo Rudu combining for 60 tackles, 25 solo, and two forced fumbles.
The secondary has been solid, allowing just 146.75 passing yards per game. Against Nicholls State, the Blackshirts held the Colonels to zero passing yards.
One player looking to break out this weekend is senior defensive end Adam Carriker. He had 9.5 sacks last season, but only one so far this season.
plishment for Kansas football, Mangino knows it has only given the Cornhuskers more motivation to extend their 18-game home winning streak against the Jayhawks.
While last season's victory over Nebraska was a momentous accom-
"Last year's game is last year's game," Mangino said. "It was fun. Our fans enjoyed it — probably more so than anybody — but the fact of the matter is that this is a new year, this is a new challenge."
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@ kansan.com.
Edited by Shanxi Upsdell
ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
Student athletes juggle school, work
While regularly attending practice, some athletes struggle with paying the bills
BY C.J. MOORE
Shelby Noonan is paying her own way through school to become a child life practitioner.
but Noonan is not the prototypical college student. Unlike most students paying their way through school, Noonan has had to balance school and a job with being a student athlete on just a partial scholarship.
Before August 2004, student athletes had a limit to how much money they could make from a job depending on the amount of scholarship money they received. The NCAA changed its rules on student athlete employment in 2004, allowing students like Noonan the opportunity to work as many hours as they want at a salary similar to another employee doing a similar job.
"People have a lot of stereotypes that everything is handed to us," Noonan, a senior diver, said. "It's definitely not. We're typical students, just with 20 more hours added on to school."
employee teaches. For some student athletes, working during the school year is a necessary evil to pay for their education. But as Theresa Becker, director of compliance in the Kansas Athletics Department, points out, the NCAA
decided its rules didn't make sense because student athletes with jobs are rare enough already.
Noonan and Matt Baysinger, a junior in track, are exceptions to the rule. Noonan worked for two years for First Management, and Baysinger has worked for Panera Bread Bakery for five years. He had not received scholarship money until this year.
"People finally realized that for student athletes who compete at this level, they don't have time to work," Becker said.
During track season last spring, Baysinger practiced 20 hours per week, six days a day. With no scholarship money coming in, he still needed a job. Baysinger would show up to Panera on Saturday and work a 12-hour shift beginning at 6 a.m. Hed work Sundays from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then head to track practice.
Baysinger said he hoped future employers would notice the time management skills he developed from the experience.
"When you're doing a résumé, you can't necessarily put that you've had a lot of job experience, but I feel like a lot of employers are going to know the dedication that it would have taken to be an athlete for four
The inability to work during the school year in her future field is something Taylor McIntosh, junior on the women's basketball team and a pre-pharmacy major, has had to work around. Unlike many pharmacy majors who work for pharmacies while they are still in school, McIntosh has only been able to work during the summer. Last summer, she volunteered at the pharmacy in Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
years” Baysinger said. “It’s 20 hours a week of practice. It’s a job in itself. It takes a lot of dedication.”
McIntosh, unlike Noonan and Baysinger, is on a full scholarship so she is not in dire need of money. However, she said the $800 a month that she received to pay for her off-campus housing and bills did not give her a lot of spending money, which is a common misconception McIntosh regularly comes across.
"I think a lot of times, non-athletes, they see us with KU sweatshirts and shirts and they think, "Yeah, I wish I could get that." McIntosh said. "But really, we work just as hard. We are just like a regular student working full time — two full-time jobs."
McNittos said none of her teammates work during the school year.
Noonan split her time between a full-time management job with First Management and the Children's Learning Center in Lawrence, where she worked 10 hours every weekend.
During the summer, student athletes are just like any other students, making up for lost funds and lost time. Baysinger worked last summer at Panera 30-40 hours per week and at a warehouse in Olathe 20 hours per week.
Next summer, McIntosh hopes to find a paying job with a pharmacy in Lawrence. During their respective seasons, the student athletes say they know their job is on the field or in the pool. And someday, they hope that work will pay off.
"I think definitely in the future. I think right now it might prohibit it." Noonan said. "In the future, being an athlete and being in school people look at that as being able to manage your time."
Kansan staff writer C.J. Moore can be contacted at cjmoore@ kansan.com.
"Even if we worked in season or out of season, we would not have time for a job," she said.
Edited by Kristen Jarboe
SOFTBALL
Swing, batter
Uka DuranacYANGAN
Freshman Caitlin Kenney swings at a pitch during the Fall Jayhawk Classic last weekend. After starting the fall season with a 1-1 record, the Jayhawks will again play a tournament this weekend in Lawrence. The KU Fall Invitational will feature Kansas, UMKC, Emporia State, Johnson County and another team yet to be announced. Kansas coach Icarly Burge said the tournaments were a chance for young players to get some experience in games. The team took six players over the summer.
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