KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 / SPORTS
FOOTBALL
7A
More experience, fresh recruits promise better run
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Offensive coordinator Chuck Long cites the inexperience of offensive players as a contributor to last season's lackluster performance. Experience and new talent could spell this season's success.
BY KORY CARPENTER kcarpenter@kansan.com
From local watering holes to Internet message boards, there seemed to be one dividing question among Kansas football fans last fall: talent or coaching?
The team just wasn't very good in 2010, and fans wanted to know why. It might not have been that simple. The coaching staff was completely new, the depth chart was thin almost across the board, and the returning players lacked significant experience from years past.
was on defense,
DJ Beshears was on defense and we pulled them over"
"We had a lot of guys at the skill positions with no experience," Long said. "Daymond Patterson
The spread offense that former coach, Mark Mangino, brought to Lawrence was gone, along with its best offensive weapons. To get
Patterson led the team in receiving yards with 487 while Beshears averaged more than 25 yards per kick return for the season.
"It's been the Todd Reesing show; Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe were getting all the footballs," offensive coordinator Chuck Long said. "Even Jake Sharp was gone."
a sense of the offensive problems Kansas coaches dealt with, two of the better offensive players in 2010 were former defenders.
"We saw what could happen when things were hitting on all cylinders, it's just a matter of consistency all the way throughout," he said. "That
son, which should bring a new level of experience, something that Long says wasn't quite there last season.
"We had a lot of guys at the skill positions with no experience."
Those were the bright spots. Even then, Kansas struggled to contend offensively, finishing 111th nationally in points per game.
comes with experience."
Both Patterson and Beshear return for the lajayhaws next sea-
CHUCK LONG Offensive coordinator
The 2011 schedule won't do any favors for the offense, either, with games at Georgia Tech as well as the new round-robin format in the Big 12 Conference. Experience should help smooth some of those
The offense is bottom-heavy right now according to Long, something that bodes well for the future but might bring some more growing pain
in 2011.
bumps the team faced last year, though.
Along with the experience comes the recruiting class the Kansas coaching staff signed. Players like quarterback Brock Berglund, running backs Anthony Pierson and Darrian Miller, and receiver JaCorey Shepherd should bring much needed competition to every position on offense.
Long said the coaches last year tried tailoring the offense to fit the personnel they had; players who they didn't recruit. Now with the influx of incoming talent and a year of building relationships, they can begin to mold the system with players they've handpicked. Everything is up for grabs heading into practices. Age won't matter.
"Redshirts won't be determined until after training camp," Long said. "Right now we're just all going in gung-ho."
- Edited by Corey Thibodeaux
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