THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
20
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010
FOOTBALL 9A Big 12 recognizes D.J. Beshears Saturday's performance earned Beshears the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week award.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
Wilson's offensive role secure
Senior receiver's performance offers him more roles in games
PAGE 10A
BY MATT GALLOWAY
mgalloway@kansan.com
twitter.com/themattgalloway
Frustrated and held without a meaningful reception in the season's first three games, senior wide receiver Johnathan Wilson never lost sight of the big picture.
Wilson had three catches for 57 yards, including a 3rd yard grab on the Jayhawks' first scoring drive, and finally became a player in the offensive game plan.
Wilson
Part of Wilson's increased involvement can be attributed to the development of freshman
quarterback Jordan Webb, who finished with 249 yards passing and a touchdown against the Aggies.
"He's grown up a lot in the past couple of weeks," Wilson said. "I have to be patient with him because sometimes I got frustrated in the first
couple of weeks. I wanted him to make more plays for the team but he just wasn't there. You just have to keep building him up with confidence."
Jerry Wang/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
At times this season, Wilson seemed invisible in the Jayhawks' dink-and-dunk, screen first offense. In the first two games he totaled only 49 yards on eight receptions. Continuing to stretch the field as they did against the Aggies will be critical to the team's performance in Big 12
play, Wilson said.
Wilson was targeted three times in the jayhawks $ ^{4} $ 99-yard scoring drive late in the third quarter that gave the team a four score margin. That drive, in addition to zero turnovers for the second week in a row, shows a developing cohesiveness on offense, coach Turner Gill said.
"We need some shots down field to back them up," Wilson said. "Our short passing game is great, guys can make plays, but we needed to take some shots downfield."
"I think that just shows execution," Gill said of the drive. "Again, they made plays when they had to."
Cohesiveness is probably the last word one would have used to describe the lahawks after their season-opening 6-3 loss to North Dakota State. This offense has grown up in the last month, Wilson said.
"It's a different offense," Wilson said. "We just have to be more consistent. We have our ups and downs, but I think we'll compete in the Big 12."
With senior running back Angus Quigley and sophomore quarterback Kale Pick now backing up their freshman contemporaries, it is easy to see a scenario where Wilson fades into the background of the Jayhawk offense. But the senior from Houston, Texas is not ready to let that happen.
Edited by Leslie Kinsman
"Everything's new." Wilson said. "We have to get used to each other,used to the coaches and used to the types of things they do. We just had to feel them out,and I think we're starting to mesh now."
Senior wide receiver Johnathan Wilson is wrapped up by New Mexico State defensive back Davon House during the first quarter. Wilson caught three receptions for 57 yards and the Jayhawks improved to 2-2 for the season after defeating New Mexico State Saturday night.
Sarah Hockel/KANSAN
Fhong Boonraksasat, freshman from Thailand, putts on the eleventh green Monday afternoon at the Marilynn Smith Invitational.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Jayhawks lead by one stroke at invitational
BY ETHAN PADWAY epadway@kansan.com
The Jayhawks were in fifth place after shooting 313 in the first round. They came back in the afternoon and fired 290 to
The women's golf team is in first place after two rounds of play in the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational. The Jayhawks lead Nebraska by one stroke.
"I think first round we had we s o m e nerves and some jitters,"Coach Erin O'Neil
said. "Whenever you host a home event you try a little too hard. I think we were just nervous and pushing too hard. By the second 18 that had kind of worked itself out. They were more relaxed."
move into first.
Thiry
Senior Grace Thiry led the Jayhawks, firing a one over par 73 in both rounds Monday. Thiry is tied for second place.
Junior Katy Nugent chipped in a birdie on hole 18 to shoot a three under par 69 in her second round. This lead the Jayhawk comeback and put
"Grace played awesome. She was very steady. I don't think she missed too many shots and made some birdies. She did a good job of leading us," O'Neil said.
for fourth place. Nugent shot the second lowest round ever by a lajawk at the invitation-al. According to kuathletics.com, the lowest round was shot three
up with an 80 in the first round, but came back with a second round 72 to finish the day in a tie for 13th place. Freshman Fhong Boonraksasat fired 81 in the first round and 76 in the second to put her in a tie for 27th place. Junior Maria Jackson shot an 81 in the morning and an 80 in the afternoon to put her in a tie for
"Whenever you host a home event you try a little too hard. I think we were just nervous and pushing too hard."
years ago in 2007 by Amanda Costner.
ERIN O'NEIL Coach
40th place.
"I'm pretty sure that is the lowest collegiate round Katy has ever had," O'Neil said. "I think she just had some birdies and didn't have any big numbers. She just hung in there and kent making birdies."
Senior Meghna Bal opened
"I think if they just play similar to this afternoon we will be in good shape. They are all very capable of shooting low numbers. I think we just
play our game we will be in good shape."
Check out an online photo gallery of the invitational at kansan.com
The Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational's final round tees off at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Edited by Roshni Oommen
COMMENTARY
BY MAX VOSBURGH
Freshman QB takes reins, leads offense
Quarterback Jordan Webb has done an outstanding job in his first three games as starter for the Jayhawks. As far as the Kansas football team is concerned, there are few things that are clearer. He is the future of this team.
After a 42-16 victory against New Mexico State, who really knows what to expect heading into Big 12 play Saturday against Baylor? Through its first four games, Kansas has looked great in two victories and terrible in two losses. A lot of question marks remain as to how this team will play in conference games, but at least this summer's biggest question has been answered. Webb has established himself as the starting quarterback for this team.
"He's grown up a lot in the past couple of weeks," wide receiver Johnathan Wilson said.
Coach Turner Gill had a tough decision to make. All summer he had to choose between a guy with miniscule experience and a guy with absolutely no experience.
Although Kale Pick ended up winning the starting quarterback position a couple weeks before the season started, Gill wasn't afraid to rotate Webb in either. Give credit to Gill for acknowledging Webb's talent and not simply handing the starting job to Pick, as many people figured Pick would start anyways.
"It was great. We all knew what we were capable of," he said."We came out and executed well.We left a few points on the board,which is disappointing, but overall we played a pretty good game."
Despite scoring a season high 42 points against New Mexico State, Webb wasn't completely satisfied; he wanted more.
Through three games as the starter, Webb has led the Jayhawks to a 2-1 record. He has completed 57 of 93 passes for 625 yards and has thrown five touchdowns to only one interception.
Perhaps one of the most admirable qualities about Webb is his competitiveness. He prides himself in being the guy that talks a lot on the sideline, pumping up his teammates. His passion on the field is obvious. A video of Webb laying out senior Georgia Tech linebacker Anthony Egbuniwe after a handoff to running back James Sims has been making its way around YouTube.
Webb's performance so far this season is even more impressive when you consider that he is a freshman quarterback and has only played in four college games. Things will get tougher as the season progresses and the level of competition increases but the non-conference numbers suggest he is right on par with his counterparts.
Through four games, Webb's passer rating of 133.33 is better than three of the Big 12 starting quarterbacks he will face this season.
Edited by Leslie Kinsman