Ready to rumble

By Gary Bedore     Aug 15, 2009

How they stack up

Richard Gwin
Toben Opurum — at 6-foot-2, 235 pounds — thinks his size helps him compare favorably with the other running backs on Kansas University’s football roster.

Here are Kansas’ top candidates at running back, with height, weight and class:

Jake Sharp 5-10 195 Sr.

Rell Lewis 5-10 201 So.

Daniel Porter 5-11 200 Jr.

Toben Opurum 6-2 235 Fr.

Deshaun Sands 5-9 182 Fr.

The first few days of major-college football practice are enough to make any true freshman’s head spin.

That includes somebody as accomplished as 6-foot-2, 235-pound running back Toben Opurum.

“Training camp … they install new plays every day. They throw a lot at you,” said Opurum, who rushed for 882 yards and eight touchdowns and had 31 receptions for 238 yards last season at Plano (Texas) East High.

“It’s hard to remember everything, but you’ve got a lot of people helping you out — coach Matsakis (Louie, running backs coach), Jake Sharp and Rell Lewis, people like that,” Opurum added of running-back teammates.

“They all help make things easier on me.”

Opurum, who chose KU over Florida, Notre Dame and others in recruiting, compared the first few days of practice at KU to his prep days in Plano.

“Thankfully it’s not as hot as it is in Texas. It’s still kind of warm out here,” Opurum said, speaking of recent Kansas weather in the 90s, apparently a few degrees cooler than that of the Lone Star State. “The first few days have been long. We improved as a team, so it’ll definitely pay off in the end.”

Opurum, who apparently is in the mix to contribute this season, says he’s been kept busy at practice.

“We are all getting repetitions. The opportunity is there to play,” Opurum said. “All the running backs coming in bring different styles and complement one another. I think me coming in with more size than other running backs, they expect me to complement different styles of the shorter backs. I think it (size) will help out a lot.”

A three-year starter and two-time first-team all-district selection at Plano East, Opurum says he wants to do all he can to help KU win big his rookie campaign.

“For everyone coming in here … the big goal is to win a Big 12 championship,” Opurum said.

He has more than football on his mind.

“I picked KU because of the playing opportunity here, the education you receive. The program is top-of-the-line. It’s what I wanted in a school for academics,” said Opurum, who plans to major in finance or sports medicine.

He’s taking it day by day right now while getting adjusted to the next level.

“I’ve been so caught up with football. That is fun for me,” Opurum said. “I think I have improved since I’ve been here. I think everybody has improved. That’s what has impressed me the most — the improvement of everybody since I’ve been here.”

Coach Mark Mangino, who ultimately will decide whether to play or red-shirt Opurum this season, also likes what he’s seen at practice from his ball carriers.

“In terms of the running-back situation, Jake Sharp obviously looks good and picked up right from where he left off last year,” Mangino said. “I like that Rell Lewis is healthier and doing a lot better. Two newcomers, Daniel Porter and Toben Opurum, are really good, talented young guys.

“We have a chance to be really good and really deep at the running-back position. I think that overall some positions are going to have some depth. The defensive line will have some depth, the secondary with have depth, running back will have depth, and obviously the quarterback will have depth, but hopefully we won’t need it, but we will be deep at that position as well.”

Ready to rumble

By Gary Bedore     Jun 17, 2009

Kansas University sophomore guard Travis Releford, who missed last week’s Bill Self campers game because of a painful skin irritation, says he’s healed and ready to play in today’s Camp Game Part Two.

In fact, the 6-foot-5 Releford will take a turn guarding 33-year-old Billy Thomas, who last Wednesday exploded for 33 points in the KU alumni team’s 67-52 victory over the current Jayhawks in Horejsi Center.

“Get up on him and make him put it on the ground,” Releford said of his strategy to slow the 6-foot-5 Thomas, who last week drilled seven of 11 threes.

“He likes to dribble into his shot. I saw that from watching last week. I kind of got to sit back and see how the alumni played.”

Though nobody ever knows for sure who will play before the 3 p.m. game, alumni Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Darnell Jackson have said they will participate. Thomas last Wednesday said he planned to play again this week.

Releford, meanwhile, is just happy to be back on the court.

He admits he was getting a bit concerned about his skin irritation after several trips to the doctor showed no reasons for the stabbing sensation he felt when anything touched his skin.

Even sleeping proved to be a problem.

“It hurt in bed with the covers on top of me,” Releford said. “I’m fine now. It was a skin reaction. I have been taking a lot of medicine. No more pain.”

• NBA rule should be amended: Self said Tuesday he was in favor of changing the rule that forces high school players to attend college a year prior to turning pro.

“In my personal opinion, I think kids should be allowed to go out of high school or (if they enroll in college) stay in college for three years. I think it will move to two (years), and I think that would be good because if someone wanted to make a mockery of our education system, they could with the one-and-done player,” Self said.

“They (the one-and-dones) could take six hours in the fall and not go to school in the spring, and the next thing you know they are still eligible to play the full year.”

• No more on-and-dones?: “I think it sounds good, but if you were to tell 100 percent of the coaches out there they could have somebody in their program that’s good enough to be a lottery pick after one year, then there’s a great chance they would take them. And there is still no guarantee that they would leave after one year,” Self said.

“There have been a lot of guys projected to be one-and-done that stay in school for three (years). There have been a lot of guys that are projected to be in school for four that leave after one or two. Everybody matures and develops at different rates, so I think it is an inexact science, and I do believe that coaches still want to recruit the best guys. I don’t think you can have an entire team of them. If you do that, you’ll be really good for one year, but there will certainly be a drop-off. I do think guys want the best players they can possibly recruit.”

KU is bringing in a projected one-and-done this year in Xavier Henry.

• Dooley on Holy Cross list?: ESPN’s Andy Katz reports that KU assistant coach Joe Dooley is on the list of candidates for the vacant Holy Cross coaching job. Coach Ralph Willard recently left Holy Cross to join Rick Pitino’s Louisville staff as an assistant. KU assistant coaches do not comment on job vacancies across the country.

• Rankings: Katz has kept KU as his preseason No. 1 team for next year in his updated rankings following the NBA early-entry draft withdrawal deadline. Michigan State is No. 2, Texas 3, Villanova 4 and North Carolina 5.

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