'Hawks look to win Big 12 series
Baylor Bears come to town for three games, Kansas needs to win to keep its Big 12 Tournament hopes alive.
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KANSAS
FRIDAY, APRIL 13,2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
PAGE 1B
FOOTBALL
Scrimmage doubles as proving ground
Players to compete for positions on offense, defense in spring game
Even though the calendar reads April, campus might feel a little like October on Sunday. Cool weather, tailgating and football will come together at the annual spring scrimmage at 3:30 Sunday afternoon.
After five weeks of practices and workouts, the 2007 Kansas football team will put itself on display for the public. Though the spring game is only a scrimmage, it gives fans and media an opportunity to see the program's progress since last season and allows the coaching staff to see some of the younger players in game situations.
"Spring ball is important," coach
spring game info
When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday
Where? Memorial Stadium.
Fans should enter at Gate C on the southeast side of the stadium and park on the east side of the stadium.
Mark Mangino said. "It sets the tempo for the next fall."
The mediocre performance of last year's team left plenty of room for improvements and adjustments, the first of which was implementing a new offense.
How much: Admission and parking are free. The first 5,000 fans receive a free KU Football T-shirt.
New offensive coordinator Ed Warinner has brought to Kansas an offense that players call "exciting," "up-tempo" and "different." It remains to be seen if sophomore quarterbacks Kerry Meier and Todd Reesing can make the necessary adjustments to the new scheme. How the quarterbacks fare in the spring scrimmage could help sort out the battle for playing time that has gone on since late last season.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Several young defensive linemen should provide the defense with a spark of its own. Sophomore Max Onyeguleb is linebacker-turned-defensive end who possesses more speed than the average lineman. At 6-foot-7, sophomore defensive end Jeff Wheeler has enough height to frequently disrupt the sightlines of opposing quarterbacks.
The spring game will also be the first chance for new Jayhawks to suit up and play in front of fans at Memorial Stadium. Junior defensive backs Patrick Resby and Kendrick Harper are recent additions from
The Jayhawks will unveils a new, up-tempo offense at the spring scrimmage on Sunday. The game begins at 3:30 p.m. Parking and admission is free.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 6B
Sophomore catcher Buck Afenir has shifted his role, from backup catcher last year to starting pitcher this season. He is currently batting .307.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
》 PROFILE
Afenir catches on
BY ALISSA BAUER
Assistant coach Kevin Frady overheard last year's All-American and NCBWA Stopper of the Year Don Czyz pay his former catcher a compliment when he returned to visit the team earlier this year.
"Buck, I hated throwing to you last year, but I love throwing to you this year," Czyz said.
Sophomore catcher Buck Afenir has almost completed his 180-degree turnaround from the freshman he was last year to the starting catcher he is this season. After splitting time behind the plate with senior Dylan Parzyk in 2006, Afenir has taken over the reigns this season.
In the 33 games he started and the 42 in which he saw time last year, the Atascadero, Calif. native hit just .278 with four home runs and 16 RBI. Barely halfway through the 2007 campaign, Afenir has passed his home run mark (5) and RBI (23) total and is hitting a solid .307.
"I think the turning point this year was when coach Price came up to me and was like 'What's the deal? What's going on?' at the beginning of the year when I was doing
well, but I wasn't really breaking out or anything." Afenir said. "He told me to go 100 percent. 'Nobody's going to get mad at you if go 100 percent and mess up.' And that's what I was afraid of — messing up
designated hitter. Afenir responded,
going 3-for-4 in his first collegiate
start in that spot.
Price's confidence in Afenir was apparent long before he took a chance
"He told me to go 100 percent. Nobody's going to get mad at you if you go 100 percent and mess up."
Evidently, it's a really good feeling. Even when coach Price rested his catcher in the final game of the Texas series last weekend, he chose to keep Afenir bait in the lineup as the
and getting yanked out of the lineup. Now I know that as long as I'm going as hard as I can that coach Price is behind me. That's a good feeling."
BUCK AFENIR Sophomore catcher
on the sophomore as the designated hitter. In fact, Price is the primary reason Afenir is a Javihawk.
Two years ago, Afenir was recruited by many schools during his senior year one
of which was the three-hour drive from home, Stanford. From little-league through high school, Afenir had been coached by his dad, Steve. Price liked that idea, knowing that meant Afenir grew up in a baseball family, Steve Afenir, on the other
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 3B
Jayhawks face Aggies
SOFTBALL
Practiced Kansas looks to break Big 12 home losing streak
BY EVAN KAFARAKIS
Time off has been something the Kansas softball team has lacked recently — but not this week.
The Jayhawks' (27-14-1, 3-4 Big 12) only game this week against Missouri on Wednesday was canceled because of poor conditions. The game was postponed. Kansas returns to the field Saturday against No. 5 Texas A&M (31-6, 5-3) at Arrocha Ballpark.
Without a game this entire week. Bunge and the Jayhawks certainly had some quality practice time. It's something the team has been in need during its recent stretch of games. The layhawks hold a record of 5-5 in its last 10 games.
"We haven't had a chance to have a solid practice in a couple weeks," Bunge said going into the Texas game.
The Aggies come into the game on a big defensive stand. They have
The latest polls give Kansas three votes to be ranked in the Top 25. A sweep of the Aggies would certainly put them there.
With losses to Texas, Oklahoma and Baylor - all of which ranked in the Top 15 in the nation - the Aggies are 6-5 against Top 25 teams.
not allowed a run in their last 3 games and scored 10 of their own
6
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 3B
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The Jayhawks take on the Aggies this weekend at Arrocha Ballpark. Currently, Kansas is 0-3 at home against Big 12 teams.
DO THE DREW
3 running backs compete for spot
BY DREW DAVISON
KANSAN COLUMNIST
DDAVISON@KANSAN.COM
ll the hype surrounding the Kerry Meier/Todd Reesing quarterback situation is overshadowing the bigger question: who will step up at running back and fill Jon Cornish's shoes?
Right now, Angus Quigley, Jake Sharp and Gary Green seem to be in the mix for the starting spot. Quigley missed last season because of an injured thigh, but he appears to be the front-runner for the job.
He has the best size, at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, and was slated to split carries with Cornish before last season.
If Kansas wants to make it back to a bowl game, Quigley will have to become the horse that carries the offense — or, possibly Jake Sharp. Last season, whenever Sharp got the ball, he was a tough runner. He averaged just over six yards a carry on 21 carries.
Between Qigley and Sharp, I expect one to become the starting running back, getting 15 to 20 carries a game, with the other getting about 10 carries a game.
While it's too early to determine just how good he'll be, the talk surrounding incoming freshman Carmon Boyd-Anderson is promising. I would not be surprised if he comes in as a dark horse and gets some carries right away.
There is also a lot of talk about the Jayhawks becoming more of a passing team — which is about as bad an idea as moving the Missouri game to Arrowhead Stadium.
There is no way Kansas will make it to a bowl game if it doesn't run the ball 30-plus times a game. It hired Ed Warinner as offensive coordinator and, on paper, it appears he is best suited for a running offense. Despite Illinois being the laughingstock of the Big Ten at 2-10 last season, Warinner's offensive line opened up running lanes as the Illini became the top rushing attack in the conference. So, why would Kansas switch to a passing offense? It just doesn't make sense.
Basically, losing the guy that ignited the jayhawk offense last season, Cornish, will be a lot tougher to replace than the quarterback competition between Meier and Reesing. I'm confident either one will be able to run the offense effectively — as long as they have a dependable guy in the backfield.
Come Sunday, during the annual spring scrimmage, how the running backs look will have a lot more influence this season than how the quarterbacks look.
Davison is a senior in journalism from Overland Park.
Edited by Kelly Lanigan