THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MONDAY, AUGUST 15,2005
PAGE 1B
PROFILE
Unexpected Jayhawk
RYAN COLIAIANNI
rcolaianni@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Kansas freshman linebacker Brandon Duncan always thought he would play football for the University of Texas, the team he made an oral commitment to during his junior year of high school.
But after the Garland, Texas,-native didn't sign a letter of intent to play for the Longhorns in February, Duncan said Texas coach Mack Brown called him in June and informed him that there was no longer
a spot for him as a Longhorn.
That sent Duncan into panic mode, and he began looking for a place to play football for the 2005 season.
His mother pointed him to the University of Kansas. She had called Kansas co-defensive coordinator Dave Doeren to let him know of her son's interest.
"My mom was telling me from the get-go that, 'You'll love it up there, you just have to come up here and meet the coaches and players. They have a real good team, everyone is bonding.'" Duncan said. "I came
up here and saw exactly what they were talking about. I didn't even go and look anywhere else after I came up here."
including Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. he said.
Several other schools expressed interest in Duncan
Kansas coach Mark Mangino was skeptical when he began perusing Duncan in June. Mangino usually takes measures to find out how serious recruits are, especially when he recruits players late.
The background check didn't stop at Duncan's high school. The
SEE DUNCAN ON PAGE 8B
FOOTBALL
'Hawks take on new hue of blue
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
rschneider@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
The Kansas football team unveiled new light blue uniforms last Thursday, after three years of donning navy blue jerseys.
The new uniforms are the lighter blue, dubbed "Kansas blue" by the Athletics Department. The University of Kansas designated "Kansas blue" the
official shade earlier this year.
"I like them," senior linebacker Banks Floodman said. "They look like the Patriots and they're pretty good," Floodman said in reference to the defending Super Bowl champions.
The new home uniforms will be blue with white numbers and lettering. The pants will be gray with a thick blue stripe down the center. The team will wear white uniforms for away games.
Junior quarterback Adam Barmann said the Jayhawks will have alternate red uniforms as well.
The helmets will be the new lighter blue, with a red stripe down the center and have a gray facemask.
The jerseys also are the first official adidas apparel shown to the public since the Athletics Department began its apparel contract with the company July 1.
"I grew up wearing adidas," Barrmann said. "I think they're good-looking."
Despite the new uniforms, team members realized that the new uniform color would not determine their success on the field this season.
"I think they're nice," senior running back Clark Green said. "It's not about the uniform; it's more about what you do in the uniform."
The team will debut the new uniforms Sept. 3 against Florida Atlantic at Memorial Stadium.
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Charles Gordon, junior wide receiver/cornerback shows off the new football uniforms during media day Thursday at Memorial Stadium. The uniforms feature a new shade of blue and a stripe down each pant leg.
Young squad gives Self hope for season
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWITER
MEN'S BASKETBALL
After losing four seniors who made up the core of last year's team, the new-look Jayhawks have 10 underclassmen on their roster. Three of those players make up this year's recruiting class: guards Mario Chalmers and Micah Downs and forward Julian Wright. Labeled as the fourth-best recruiting class in the country by rivals.com, Self said the incoming freshmen would have an opportunity to make an impact early in the season.
Young, quick, athletic and exciting; That's how Kansas coach Bill Self describes the 2005-06 Jayhawks.
Bill Self coaches Sasha Kaun during a game last season. The Jayhawks' 2005-2006 season begins with game against Fort Hays State on Nov. 9 and includes non-conference opponents such as Arizona, Nevada and Kentucky
Kansan file photo
"We lost a core group of seniors last year and you don't replace seniors with freshmen and not skip a little bit of a beat." Self said. "We are very excited about the young guys we have to replace them, Julian, Micah and Mario all have the potential to be high impact players."
Sophomore guard Jeremy Case
said Self has told the team that there would be ups and downs early in the season, but Case said his coach seemed elated about this year's team.
"We all know how young we are, but coach says we are going to have fun, more fun than we had last year," Case said. "You can just tell he is really excited about all of the young guys we have."
Chalmers, Downs and Wright,
all McDonald's All-Americans, will be competing for serious playing time, maybe even starting positions.
Chalmers, a 6-foot-1 point guard from Anchorage, Alaska, averaged 26 points per game last season at Bartlett High School. Downs, a 6-foot-8 shooting guard, averaged 24.8 points and 12 rebounds for Juanita High in Kirkland, Wash. While Wright, a 6-foot-9 forward from Chicago Heights, Ill., averaged 14.9 points and 7.0 rebounds for Homewood-Flossmor High School.
With the addition of the athletic freshmen, Case said the Jayhawks would play much faster than last season.
"We set up offense a lot last year, but we are going to be so much quicker this year," Case said. "I can see us running a lot more."
Self said he expected sophomores C.J. Giles, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Russell Robinson to pick
SEE HOPE ON PAGE 4B
VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
KELLIS ROBINETT
krobinett@kansan.com
Mangino needs time to produce success
The question is: how much time is Athletics Director Lew Perkins going to give him?
It's only a matter of time before Kansas football coach Mark Mangino turns the Jayhawks into an upper tier Big 12 Conference team.
So much so, that Mangino thinks his team will compete for this year's Big 12 North title.
The answer should be two or three more years, regardless of how the team performs this season.
If you look at this year's roster and compare it to the one Mangino inherited back in 2002, the progress he has made is obvious.
"I haven't been this excited entering a season before." Mangino said. "We are going to be a good football team, no question about it."
There's reason to be excited, because with defensive standouts like cornerback Charles Gordon and a slew of senior linebackers roaming the Jayhawk sidelines, Kansas has starters that can line up against any other team in the conference.
The team was close to big things last year, and with fewer injuries or a few more good bounces, Kansas could have easily found itself in a secondstraight bowl game.
But with so many close calls last year, and one of the conference's best defenses returning, some fans and media members are starting to put pressure on Mangino to win now.
Everything from his record of 12-24 to the football team's minor NCAA rules violations to Perkins simply wanting to hire his own guy have been mentioned as reasons Mangino is on the hot seat.
If you ask Mangino, though, he's not feeling any pressure.
Four years is far too little time to demand anything out of a college football coach. And it's not like he hasn't had his fair share of success since taking over for Terry Allen.
"The only pressure that I suffer is self-induced. That's the only pressure that I have," he said. "I'm confident in our team and I'm confident in our assistant coaches and I'm confident in myself."
He added that the only self-induced pressure was that he wanted to win, but didn't feel any outside pressure.
Though Mangino hasn't produced a winning season, he's shown flashes of brilliance, with two victories over Missouri and one over Kansas State.
He also guided the Jayhawks to the Tangerine Bowl in 2003.
One doesn't just stumble upon those kinds of accomplishments.
And he shouldn't.
Mangino has proven that he can recruit, motivate his players and coach at a high level.
In doing so, Kansas came within one play of defeating Texas and crushed Missouri on the road.
After losing three quarterbacks to injuries last season the football team owned a 3-6 record with games against highly ranked Texas and at Missouri remaining. The team could have packed it in and no one would have blamed them.
The Jayhawks had no business being in either of those games, but they were. And the only reason they played so well was because of Mangino's leadership.
But Mangino somehow managed to not only convince his team to keep playing, but to perform to the best of its ability.
That proves that Mangino has control of the football program. And if you consider how bare the cupboard was when he arrived, there's no doubt that Kansas is heading in the right direction.
"We were just knocking on the door last year," junior quarterback Adam Barmann said. "I really think it's going to come together this year. I think this is going to be our year."
Even if it isn't, and Mangino loses a few more close games and fails to reach a second bowl game this season. Perkins should cut him slack.
With enough time, the progress he's made will turn into big victories.
♦ Robinett is an Austin, Texas, senior in journalism. He is Kansan sports editor.