Two KU football targets make top-100 list

By Matt Tait     Jun 3, 2010

The first two rounds of player rankings for the high school Class of 2011 were released by Rivals.com this week, and two Kansas University targets cracked the top 100.

Darrian Miller, a running back from Blue Springs, Mo., came in as the 77th-ranked player in the nation. Miller, who rushed for 2,798 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2009, originally committed to KU in March but since has decommitted from coach Turner Gill’s Jayhawks, citing a desire to make sure KU was the right fit.

The current list of finalists for Miller, 5-foot-10, 187 pounds, includes KU, Kansas State, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Each of those schools has offered Miller a scholarship. Also expected to make a push for the four-star running back are Missouri and Tennessee.

Joining Miller on the Rivals100 list is Gardner-Edgerton quarterback Bubba Starling, a three-sport star whose options after high school include Alabama, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Notre Dame and major-league baseball.

Starling, 6-4, 193, received a four-star rating from Rivals and was ranked 99th on the list. He recorded 2,814 combined yards and 37 touchdowns in 2009.

Wednesday, Rivals released its list of the top 250 players in the nation, and a few more KU recruits made that list. Among them were local products Jordan Phillips, an offensive lineman from Towanda High (132), and Dan Tapko, a tight end from Rockhurst High in Kansas City, Mo. (178).

The remaining four-star players will be named today, and Rivals will continue to release its rankings in the coming days in the following order: June 7, offensive-position rankings; June 8, defensive-position rankings; June 14, first round of state-by-state rankings.

New ticket packages revealed

The KU athletic department announced Wednesday the creation of two new half-season ticket packages, known as “Rock” and “Chalk.”

The Rock package includes tickets to games against Georgia Tech (Sept. 11), New Mexico State (Sept. 25), Kansas State (Oct. 14) and Oklahoma State (Nov. 20). The Chalk package includes North Dakota State (Sept. 4), Colorado (Nov. 6), Kansas State (Oct. 14), and Texas A&M (Oct. 23).

Each package costs $175.

In addition, KU officials announced that the Family Plan ticket package is now available to the public. The Family Plan includes two youth and two adult season tickets for $499.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.