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Monday, October 9, 2006

Mangino modifies team’s injury policy

By Ryan Wood

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Seeing the finished product of an unsteady week at practice forced Mark Mangino to get proactive.

Kansas University's football coach told reporters Sunday that players who miss the week of practice due to injury won't play in the upcoming game anymore. It's a move intended to create stability on the practice field, which Mangino hopes carries over to games at the end of the week.

"Even though it might be a number two on the depth chart," Mangino said, "we're probably better in the long run going with that person."

KU's 21-18 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday came about in part because of an offense that never clicked, save Jon Cornish's 128 rushing yards. Mangino said afterward that "four or five" offensive contributors were held out of practice during the week, and he felt strongly that it showed against the Aggies.

All but one of the dinged-up players - wide receiver Marcus Herford - played on Saturday.

"We had a bunch of guys that missed a bunch of practice on offense," Mangino said. "We just couldn't get continutity on the practice field, and consequently we couldnt get continiutiy on the game field."

As it turns out, the new policy KU's coaches are going with may have kept Cornish off the field for the Texas A&M game, had it been in place a week ago. Cornish revealed afterward that he didn't practice until Thursday because of an undisclosed injury. He ended up being a major source of offense for the otherwise punchless Jayhawks on Saturday.

"Despite the fact that Jon had a rough week, he stayed focused enough and played well," Mangino said. "We just can't afford to not have continuity. We've got to have the people in the huddle and in practice that are going to participate (in the game)."

That includes the always-important quarterback position. Senior Adam Barmann, who started and played the entire game Saturday, didn't get normal work in during the week because of the uncertainty of regular starter Kerry Meier. It wasn't determined until Thursday that Meier would be unable to play, and that may have slowed down Barmann's preparation.

Meier practiced extensively on Sunday. The Jayhawks have today off, and Mangino said Meier would be evaluated before Tuesday's practice and a decision would be made at that point as to whether he'd play against Oklahoma State.

"We'll see how he recovers Tuesday before we get on the practice field," Mangino said. "If he's feeling good, we will go with him."

Meier has missed the last three games with a shoulder injury suffered in the fourth quarter against Toledo. Further frustrating the situation is the day-to-day uncertainty of how Meier's feeling. Last week, he and Barmann split repititions between them, which Mangino thinks ultimately hurt both.

"The number one quarterback," Mangino said, "has to get 75 percent of the repititions."

Even with the new philosophy in place, Mangino doesn't think it will be exercised this week, despite how dinged up the team was before the Texas A&M game.

"We are a little nicked up," Mangino said, "but according to our trainer, everybody should be a full go for Tuesday."

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Comments

topflight (anonymous) says...

Someone tell me why we are wasting Jake Sharp's year and not redshirting him? What a damn waste Mangina.

October 9, 2006 at 6:32 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Displayhawk (anonymous) says...

I agree topflight! Seems a damn shame that the kid is wasting this year doing spot duty at running back and special teams. I still say run some mis-direction plays with this kid, and he will have the speed to outrun the linebackers and bust it upfield. Maybe even line him up outside and run or fake reverses. That would make the defense think twice about concentrating on Cornish.

October 9, 2006 at 8:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JJHawq (anonymous) says...

i think he'd be better as a flanker or split end anyhow....we just have no backs. not sure what we're gong to do next year w/o cornish. i hope angus makes a speedy recovery.

coach is pulling a tony temple on sharp...

October 9, 2006 at 8:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayloco (anonymous) says...

I agree with both of you. This is a young team that is 3-3 now. Realistically, the Hawks are not going to compete for the Big XII North title. Let's get our young guys in there and give them a chance to gain valuable experience for next year. Sharp is wasting a year of eligibility. He has not been given an opportunity to show what he brings to the table. Here's hoping that Sharp gets more of a role the rest of the year. It will pay dividends next year when he is competing for the RB job.

October 9, 2006 at 8:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tis4tim (anonymous) says...

"We just couldn't get continutity on the practice field, and consequently we couldnt get continiutiy on the game field."

The word is continuity. Two misspellings of the same word in one sentence. I don't think I've seen that before. Maybe we should evaluate the writers before game day too.

October 9, 2006 at 10:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

roshi12 (anonymous) says...

LMAO...it's not even spelled (incorrectly) the same way twice.

As for Sharp, it probably is time to give him more snaps. With the home loss coupled with Neb and MU winning road games, our chances of winning the North are very, very slim now.

Might as well start getting the youngers guys ready for next year.

October 9, 2006 at 7:25 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ColBond (anonymous) says...

So you guys would rather have no running back next year that's even touched a ball during a game? Sharp will get enough work to be ready for next year, and hopefully Quigley will be in the mix.

October 9, 2006 at 11:24 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

I'm not quite sure what you're saying, ColBond. It seems to me that everyone's arguing that Sharp should be touching the ball MORE, not less. People are only saying he should be redshirted if they're going to play him as little as they are now.

And yet another reason to play him more, one that people haven't mentioned, is that it would put less pressure on Cornish and he wouldn't be likely to be dinged up as much.

As for Mangino, I'm getting more and more worried about his judgment. I think it's ridiculous to go to a blanket policy of never playing anyone who doesn't practice; it seems like an extreme overreaction to me. It should be judged on a case-by-case basis. There have been countless examples, both in college and the NFL, of players who haven't practiced and have then gone out and had great games. And it's not exactly like KU has the depth to be able to sit out a lot of starters and have a chance to win.

October 10, 2006 at 1:48 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

tis4tim (anonymous) says...

Actorman-

Good point. Brian Westbrook in the NFL is a classic "no practice, play Sunday" case this season.

If you ask me, (and nobody did), you go with the guy that the other players rally around, the guy who gets others fired up just by his presence on the field, if he's ready to play, whether or not that guy got 75% of the reps or not.

Also, With only three more wins needed for bowl eligibility and a nice payday, they will not be sitting starters just yet to "get ready for next year".

October 10, 2006 at 11:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

FlaHawk (anonymous) says...

With Mangino making $1.5 milion a year and a large support staff you would think someone could make case by case decisions. Since when is coaching my a set of rules. A little creative never hurt the KU program before and Mangino while a great recruiter has not shown much creativity, ski;; or mocie (did like the fake punt in A&M game) or skill as a game tacticion. This may be the assistant's role most of the time, but where does the buck stop. He sounds like a overpaid CEO (fat dumb and happy avoiding tuff decisions by forcing the system to work for him) at a large corporation now.

October 10, 2006 at 12:26 p.m. ( | suggest removal )