Spring FOOTBALL
SECTION B
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1997
Oklahoma football ready to get down to business
NORMAN, OKLA. — Oklahoma's foot ball coaches needed spring practice in 1996 just to get acquainted with the players. This year it's been different.
This spring, the coaches already know the players. They aren't all new as they were a year ago, when they came in with new head coach John Blake. As a result, they have been able to spend time actually coaching.
Last season, the learning carried on throughout a weird 3-8 season, the worst record in school history.
Oklahoma started out 0-4, including home losses to Texas Christian and Tulsa. Then the Sooners upset Texas. They followed that with a victory against Baylor, then didn't win again until beating State late in the season
The offense was led first by Eric Moore at quarterback. He lost the job to Justin Fuente after the first game, but won it back later and started the last two games.
Moore and Fuente, both more familiar with the system, had good spring workouts but Fuente will enter fall drills No. 1.
iowa State football player to emulate older brother
AMES, IOWA — Ask Darren Davis if he can accomplish all that Troy Davis did for Iowa State football, and he'll tell you this: He's more interested in what his older brother couldn't do.
Troy Davis had back-to-back 2,000-yard rushing seasons. He was a two-time Heisman finalist and a two-time All-American. But in his three years at Iowa State, the Cyclones never won more than three games in a season.
Losing is something that's new to Darren. As a three-year starter at Miami (Fla.) Southridge, he led his team to a 39-3 record. His freshman season at Iowa State ended with a 2-9 mark.
Darren is used to comparisons and the expectations. He takes it in stride.
At Iowa State's spring game, Daren played only the first half, carrying the ball 15 times for 136 yards and four touchdowns. The top unit beat the reserves 38-0.
"I guess that's the way it's going to be — me and him being compared," he said. "That's the only way I'm going to get better."
K-State loses players from football.basketball teams
MANHATTAN — Kansas State's football and basketball programs each lost a player this week.
Jones, a 7-foot, 240-pound center with one year of eligibility remaining, said he left the basketball team for personal reasons and would not transfer and complete his eligibility.
Reserve center Dax Jones will not return to the K-State lineup, Wildcat officials announced Wednesday.
"I respect Dax's decision to not continue his college basketball career," said coach Tom Asbury. "The team and coaching staff wish him the very best in the future."
Jones played in 22 games but averaged only 5.6 minutes a game, recording a total of 13 points and 17 rebounds.
Wide receiver Andre Anderson has left the K-State football team after violating team rules, said sports information director Kent Brown.
Brown said Anderson, a junior,
would not return this fall..
Anderson, 5-foot 10 and 190 pounds from West Palm Beach, Fl., caught 23 passes for 309 yards and five touchdowns last year.
—The Associated Press
INSIDE
Quarterback question
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
SPORTS INDEX
Football Photos ...3B
Depth Chart ...2B
New Players ...2B
Baseball ...8B
Horoscopes ...4B
Kansas coach yet to choose a field general
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
By Tommy Gallagher
Kansan sportswriter
Going into the Blue-White Spring Scrimmage tomorrow, it remains highly unlikely that a starting quarterback will be chosen soon.
The Kansas football team does not have a No. 1 quarterback, nor does it have a No. 2 quarterback.
"I'm not totally convinced with the limited amount of time that we had this spring that we can give you a No. 1 quarterback," Coach Terry Allen said. "I'd like to be able to do that, and I've always liked to have been able to do that, but you have to be justified in doing it."
Matt Johner
Kansas quarterbacks Matt Johner, who will be a senior, and Zac Wegner, who will be a sophomore, have been competing for the starting role during the spring practices. Penicilled in at No. 3 on the depth chart is transfer Aklii Roberson, who will be junior. But Allen likes Roberson and has not ruled him out as the starter.
Allen, who coaches the quarterbacks, might not make a decision about who will start at quarterback until the fall. He said deciding on a starting quarterback was not as important as evaluating the talent that will protect and support him.
- Left-handed senior
- Height: 6-1
- Weight: 195 pounds
- Years played at Kansas: 3
- STATS: Comp. Att. Yards TDs INTs
1994: 5 9 46 0 0
1995: 0 0 0 0 0
1996: 96 185 1,232 10 4
"From a team standpoint, you'd like to hang your confidence on one individual," Allen said. "But it's very difficult, sometimes, to make a legitimate judgment on the quarterback position when you're at such infant stages with the other critical areas within the offense."
Akili Roberson
The Transfer
Roberson had never played, or even practiced, on artificial turf until spring practice began almost four weeks ago.
- Right-handed junior
- Height: 6-0
- Weight: 190 pounds
- Years played at Kansas: 1997 season will be his first.
- At Southwest Community College in Los Angeles
"I'm not used to the turf yet," Roberson said after the first day of practice. "I transferred here
Coming from a community college in Los Angeles, he was used to playing on grass in a warm climate. Regardless, Roberson said he was confident from day one.
GR Gordon-Ross / KANSAN
because I thought I had a chance to become a starting quarterback. I know I'll have to work past the other guys here, but I'm sure my play will improve when I begin to learn the system better."
he threw for more than 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns as a freshman. He threw for more than 1,700 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore before transferring to Kansas.
The Challenger
Zac Wegner
season's start.
"We have seen great strides, understandably, from Akili Roberson," Allen said. "He sat out last year and is getting more into the thick of things, potentially helping us more at the quarterback position."
Wegner has been down this road before.
Right handed sophomore
Height: 6-2
Weight: 220 pounds
Years at Kansas: 2
Almost transferred to Northern
 Iowa after last season.
STATS: None. He has never played
 in a college football game.
Four weeks and 14 practices later, Allen agreed.
Wegner was defeated in the fall, and by a large margin. Johnner was No.1, former Jayhawk Ben Rutz was No.2 and Hamilton Hill, who was a sophomore, was No.3 by the
The man to beat became the man who held the clipboard, the No. 4 quarterback.
Former Kansas football coach Glen Mason tabbed Wegner as the No. 1 quarterback going into spring practice one year ago. He was the starter for the spring game and went into fall practice as the man to beat.
Mason left Kansas to fill a coaching vacancy at Minnesota, and Allen was hired to replace him.
"Last year was pretty tough for me," Wegner said. "My dad and I talked about the possibility of there being a coaching change because the year wasn't so good. We just sat through the whole semester to see what happened."
Allen had coached in Iowa his
entire career before coming to Kansas, and Wegner already had heard a lot about him.
"I'm originally from Iowa, and I had heard so many good things about Coach from people I knew," Wegner said. "There was no doubt in my mind that I'd stay here when I heard he was coming here."
Wegner had talked about transferring after last season, perhaps to Northern Iowa.
But with Allen and the introduction of a new offense that involves
See FOOTBALL, Page 2.B
Scrimmage to set winning attitude
The Kansas football team will conclude its first spring under new football coach Terry Allen when it plays the Blue-White Spring Scrimmage at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Memorial Stadium.
By Tommy Gallagher
Kansan sportswriter
Allen said the scrummage could help the Jayhawks develop the winning attitude that the 10-2 team from 1995 thrived on.
"One of the things we have to remember and focus on is how to win again," said Allen, who has taken control of a team that was 4-7 last season. "I think you get a number of great learning situations from scrimmage games rather than just some practice situations. Those are really highlighted here with big momentum changes, turnovers, penalties."
During his coaching days at Northern Iowa, Allen allowed team captains to pick their own teams for the scrimmage.
In his first year at Kansas, Allen said he would not do the same. Instead, the scrimmage will be a battle between the starters and the reserves.
"We have too many new faces on this team to let them have a draft," he said. "We need to build an offensive line, and there are other areas on this队 where we need to work together in
Free Spring Game
Festivities begin at 1.1 a.m. tomorrow. The first 500 fans
More than 40 former Kansas players, including Tony Sands, Frank Seurer and Mark Williams, will sign autographs before the scrimmage After the scrimmage, all the Jayhawks will be available to watch.
tomorrow. The first 500 fans will receive a free hot dog, chips and drink.
Kansas inside linebacker Jason Thoren, who will be a senior, is trying to ward off Lamar Sharpe, who will be a junior. Thoren started two games and played in seven as a freshman in 1994 and has been a starter the past two seasons.
order to improve. For all intensive purposes, it's going to be the ones against the world."
Some familiar names on defense have been fighting to keep their starting spots this spring.
Game begins at 1 p.m.
Free to the public.
At right cornerback, Jamie Harris, who will be a junior, is in a fight with Avery Randle, who also will be a junior.
See SCRINIMAGE, Page 2B
They're working on it
Football rebuilds roster, attitudes
This spring there has been a lot for the Kansas football team to work on.
"We have had a lot to work on," Kansas coach Terry Allen confirmed.
The team has even gone back to some of the fundamentals.
"Yes, we have gone back to doing some of the fundamentals," Allen said. "We are running through our plays and drills, but we are also practicing simple things like working on our huddles."
Their huddles!
"Yes, our huddles," one assistant coach said.
My, what a wonderful team former Kansas coach Glen Mason left Kansas.
For the past month, the Kansas football team has been running and jumping and catching and passing and learning plays, as they always did. But they also have been doing something else.
Rebuilding.
"Yeah, they have to rebuild," one fan noted, while sitting at practice.
But this is a rebuilding of a different nature. It's not just talent that new Coach Allen and his staff are trying to instil in his players, but it's a fresh attitude.
"The desire to win," the fan said.
This team needs the desire to win.
"That's exactly what they need."
SPORTS EDITOR
Last year, under Mason, Kansas went 4-7. That was a team that had receiver Isaac Byrd, a draft pick, running back June Henley, a draft pick, and linebacker Ronnie Ward, also a draft pick.
Almost as many draft picks as wins.
"The team had a bad attitude," Byrd said. "Once we lost a few, we just gave up."
While Byrd and his senior buddies are gone, most of the team still remains. And an attitude-rebuilding process is needed to make sure this team doesn't give up when it loses.
Mason leaving for Minnesota may have renewed that desire.
"There needs to be enthusiasm," Allen said. "This team needs to want to win."
"There is a lot of enthusiasm out there," quarterback Zac Wegner said. "Alot."
Of course, getting the team to want to win is only one phase of rebuild-
Many players have said that with Mason, practice turned them off the game. But Allen has brought back their enthusiasm.
You need talent too
That may be the tough part.
At running back, in place of Henley, there is Eric Vann. He gave up baseball to dedicate himself to football, but it may not be enough.
Remember, the team went 4-7 with Henley.
"And Henley was really good," the fan reminded me.
And look at the quarterbacks.
"I think we have the chance to be really good at quarterback," Allen said.
Well, sure, but you have to pick one first. And right now one of the men in contention for the starting job, Matt Johner, was the same guy who started games last season.
"And they were 4-7." Another reminder from our fan.
And those are just the featured positions.
Kansas offensive line needs help.
"Yeah, we have some things to work on," Allen said.
And the defensive line needs help.
"Yeah, we have some things to work on," Allen said.
Yeah, we have some things to work on, Allen said.
And the whole team could really use some help.
"Yeah, we have some things to work on." Allen conceded.
So enjoy the team; they promise to be enthusiastic. But if you are looking for a winning season... well, the fan said it best.
"Idon'tthinkso."
comments? E-mail Spencer at sports@kansan.com