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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Keegan

Keegan: Focus shifts to football

By Tom Keegan

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Now that the Royals are back to back to back to back to awful, surrendering four consecutive home runs in Thursday night's loss, nothing within miles qualifies as a decent way to capture the local sports fan's attention in the days leading up to the Kansas University football team's season opener Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium against Florida International.

That's why it was worthwhile to check out Friday's open practice on the playing surface still known as Kivisto Field.

Before discussing practice, it's time to credit one football player for having the courage not to go to court to have his name legally changed. Kale Pick is a tough name for a quarterback, but the backup freshman looks confident when he goes about his work.

Consider all the players more fragile than Pick in football history who, legend has it, gave up the sport because they couldn't take the taunts of enemy crowds. A linebacker by the name of Billy Charmin, who grew tired of constantly being told he was "squeezably soft," hung up his helmet in favor of a job with the sanitation department. Wideout Dan Drop became so spooked by the loud "drop!" taunt when the quarterback's delivery was on target, he not only dropped football, he dropped out of school. Kicker Eddie Shank couldn't take the heat, quit the football team and took up golf. That didn't last long. Cornerback Johnny Slow just didn't get why he was a backup, quit and applied to various grad schools, receiving not a single acceptance letter.

Anyway, if all goes well this season, the only picks Kale will throw will be in practice because that will mean Todd Reesing and/or Kerry Meier have avoided injuries.

Speaking of Reesing, the last quarterback I witnessed throw such an accurate ball during practice was a UCLA redshirt who had transferred from Oklahoma back in the 1980s. Troy Aikman went on to have a nice career playing for the Dallas Cowboys.

Jocques Crawford looked smoother than any KU back since Clark Green coming out of the backfield to catch a pass. Football is full of surprises once players put on pads. It would rank as a major shocker if Crawford does not have an extremely strong rookie season.

The tendency when watching intrasquad football drills is to overrate the defensive line and underrate the O-line because the defense tends to know what's coming. In fact, the D-line did seem to get the better of its offensive counterpart, probably in part because of an experience advantage.

Yet, the defensive lineman who impressed the most was true freshman Darius Parish, a 6-foot-4, 325-pound mountain of a man who is so hard to move from his ground. Look out for No. 93.

"Yeah, he'll play," KU coach Mark Mangino said of Parish, a graduate of North High in Wichita. "I really like this freshman class. It's very, very business-like. It's the most serious freshman class we've had here. ... Football holds a very high priority for them. They're good kids. They do all the things the right way and Parish is one of those guys. He wants to play, pushes himself hard to get better every day, so we're very pleased with that group."

Mangino likes this team. It's easy to understand why.

Comments

  1. troutsee (anonymous) says…

    Our attention has been turned to football for months. In fact, mine has been turned in that direction since 1-3-08. It has been well documented on this site by many contributors that they can hardly wait until 8-30.

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  2. NEJhawk (anonymous) says…

    NOW the focus shifts to football????? Tom, seriously, what part of the country do you live in???? Where on the east coast do you spend your time when you are not forced back here to cover a KU sport? What psychotic delusion made you think we were following the Royals?

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  3. springtxhawk (anonymous) says…

    Tom-Appreciate the insight on the new players from practice. Since I live in Houston, not much chance to see or hear about the young guys who can make an impact. What are your thoughts about the new O-line?Is Spikes up to the challenge of protecting Reesing? I'm not going to lie, losing Collins and B-Mac keeps me up nights.

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  4. njjayhawk (anonymous) says…

    Tom, if with this article, you're auditioning to be a comedian, don't quit your day job at the LJW.Yes, the Jayhawks will do just fine, even against the big boys of Texas, OU, and TT. I'm confident we will win 2 of these 3 games. 9-3 for this team this year sounds about right to me.As for the Royals...I didn't know they played baseball. Not in the major leagues, anyway. Pathetic team; the year-in-year-out laughingstock of major league baseball.

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  5. chezlog (anonymous) says…

    In the early '80s Mizzo had a player named "Shorthose." I wonder what he gave up because of taunting?

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  6. txrockchalk (anonymous) says…

    Decade - I like how you took it a step farther and used actual names. Nice work.Honorable Mention: Buckshot Jones (NASCAR)

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  7. 5DecadeHawk (anonymous) says…

    Has Joey Chestnut ever set the record for eating himself?

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  9. tkeegan (Tom Keegan) says…

    Springtxhawk, I've been told Spikes has a considerably higher ceiling than Anthony Collins and believe it. But to expect him to be as good in his second year in the program as Collins was in his fourth is not realistic. I wouldn't lose sleep over it though. As for McAnderson, tough loss in a lot of ways, but I'd be shocked if Crawford isn't really, really good.

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    2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket results Points: 25 Final picks: KU / UK / Baylor / Syracuse Check out Tom Keegan’s bracket »

  10. 5DecadeHawk (anonymous) says…

    I'm surprised to not see a reference to the classic pitching matchup of Rollie Fingers vs Bill Hands.What defensive lineman will want to get close to South Carolina Gamecock QB Chris Smelley?How did former KSU Basketball star Bob Boozer ever stagger his way to the basket?What swimmer would want to get into a pool after, Mark Spitz?The list goes on:Dick Bender (basketball)Toby O$hitola: (Soccer) Jack Glasscock: (baseball)Harry Colon: (NFL) Ron Tugnutt: (NHL)Misty Hyman: (swimmer)Dick Trickle: (nascar) Gregor Fu[ka: (basketball)Pull Di[koff: (Soccer)Gaylord Perry: (baseball)Pete LaCock: (baseball)Don't forget the laughing stock name:missouri tigers!No pun in that one, but it's still the biggest joke of all time.

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  11. crzykufan987 (anonymous) says…

    Uh, actually, I just stopped paying attention to the Royals because of this losing streak.

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  12. KUFan90 (anonymous) says…

    What about IOC chairman Dick Pound? He always has a 2nd career waiting in the adult film industry.

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