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KU football practice

A.J. Steward is trying to become a meaner person.

Not in general, necessarily - he was, after all, recently voted the Kansas football team's funniest player in a poll of players - but on the football field, where he's currently attempting to transform from a backup quarterback to the Jayhawks' No. 1 tight end by the start of the 2008 season.

"The toughest thing is just getting a physical mentality," said Steward, a red-shirt freshman out of St. Louis' Riverview Gardens High. "Coming from quarterback, being finesse, you gotta get kind of a meanness about yourself."

Working with the first-team offense for much of the team's Friday morning open practice at Memorial Stadium, Steward looked plenty mean. And plenty physical.

Quarterback Todd Reesing found him early and often in various receiving drills, connecting with him on at least one early-practice touchdown and a handful of other receptions across the middle.

And a couple of dropped passes notwithstanding - one of which landed in the hands of safety Darrell Stuckey for an interception - Steward was one of the day's top offensive performers.

"A.J.'s doing well," said Kansas coach Mark Mangino, who approached Steward about a position switch last winter. "He's learning on the run, but he absorbs things. He's a tenacious competitor (and) he doesn't take crap off of anybody out there."

While Steward arrived in Lawrence hoping to remain at the quarterback position, he also understood that his athleticism might be better suited elsewhere.

On Friday, the advantages of the switch seemed evident, as did an occasional mean streak.

"A lot of times so far in this camp, the guys, they'll try to test me because I've been a quarterback," said Steward, KU's scout team offensive player of the year in 2007. "They think I'm just a soft quarterback, so I want to try to let them know that that's not what I am."

¢ Crawford making strides at running back: During the KU football team's media day Tuesday, Mangino stood in front of a podium and announced that, while transfer Jocques Crawford appeared to have all the tools necessary to be a viable Division-I running back, he had yet to crack the first-team lineup during summer practice.

"He hasn't earned that right yet," is how Mangino put it.

As of Friday morning, however, "that right" appearred earned.

Just three days after Mangino's declaration, Crawford spent the duration of the team's practice alternating with junior Jake Sharp as the team's first-string running back.

For the most part, he performed well, fumbling once but breaking free for a number of big gains during the team's scrimmage-like drills.

Most impressive, though, was his performance catching passes out of the backfield. He didn't appear to drop a pass all morning while providing Reesing - who already counts Dezmon Briscoe, Dexton Fields and Kerry Meier as targets - with another reliable receiving option.

¢ Harrisonville standout to miss '08 season: Sean Ransburg, a freshman running back out of Harrisonville (Mo.) High School, will miss the 2008 season due to eligibility issues, coaches said Friday.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound recruit hasn't been cleared to play by the NCAA's Clearinghouse, although members of the coaching staff are hopeful that he will be able to join the program in January.

In a Tim Tebow-esque senior high school season in 2007, the three-star prospect (according to rivals.com) threw for 2,556 yards and 29 touchdowns while compiling 1,677 yards and 29 touchdowns on the ground.

He led Harrisonville to four straight state title games - three of which resulted in Class 3A championships - and was the first player from the Class of 2008 to commit to Kansas.

¢ Murphy earning snaps in practice: After a pair of collegiate position changes, former Free State High standout quarterback Ryan Murphy appears to have found a home in the Jayhawks' secondary.

Murphy, a redshirt freshman who started his career at KU as a wide receiver before switching to cornerback this year, earned time with the team's second-string unit Friday.

No stranger to defense, Murphy, whose twin brother Brian redshirted at KU last season before transferring to Emporia State, holds the Free State school record for career interceptions with eight.

¢ Harper's absence paves way for Barfield: With senior cornerback Kendrick Harper in Georgia on Friday following a death in the family, redshirt freshman Isiah Barfield was propelled into a large role with the Jayhawks' secondary unit.

"We wanted to take that a little slower, but today we had to throw him to the wolves," said Mangino. "We didn't have a choice. But that's OK."

Barfield is also a leading candidate - along with true freshman Daymond Patterson and senior Dexton Fields - to take over punt return duties for the Jayhawks this season.

¢ Lewis moved to running back: Former receiver Rell Lewis has begun training camp at the running back position, giving the Jayhawks a total of six players listed at either running back or tailback.

Lewis joins Crawford, Sharp, junior Angus Quigley and sophomores Carmon Boyd-Anderson and Donte Bean.