No one will ever mistake Michael Cummings for Todd Reesing, but the two have a couple of shared characteristics that have led to some pretty good passing days for Kansas University’s football team when either guy is under center.
The first is confidence. The second is trust from their teammates. The third, and perhaps most important, is the ability to disregard what others think or say about them and go out there and make plays.
All three traits were on display Saturday during a near-upset of No. 5 TCU at Memorial Stadium, where Cummings, who threw for 332 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-37 passing — and at times looked to be playing with one arm — turned in the best passing day by a KU quarterback since Reesing threw for 338 yards in a 2009 game against Duke.
The KU wide receivers and a few kind caroms from the TCU defense had a lot to do with Saturday’s success, but neither Cummings nor coach Clint Bowen was apologizing for any of the fortunate bounces the Jayhawks got. In fact, both seemed to believe those breaks came because of the new mind-set prevalent within the KU passing game.
“They’re starting to develop some chemistry,” Bowen said. “And I believe it’s a result of the way we practice, the way we prepare, and it’s starting to show up.”
Nowhere has that been more evident than in the bond between Cummings and junior receiver Nigel King, who for the past month has come up big in the passing game and given Cummings a reliable target down the field.
“It’s just a confidence thing,” King said of his 22 receptions, 404 yards and one touchdown with Cummings at QB. “He trusts me a lot to go up and make plays, and I feel like I can’t let him or my teammates down.”
In his five games as KU’s starter this season, Cummings has tossed seven touchdowns, run for four more, completed 59 percent of his passes and averaged 284 passing yards per game. His 1,492 passing yards move him ahead of the season totals put up by former five-star starters Dayne Crist (1,313 in 2012) and Jake Heaps (1,414 in 2013) and within striking distance of topping Jordan Webb’s 1,884 yards in 2011 and the fourth-best non-Reesing season total in the past 25 years.
For an offense that has struggled mightily through the air since Reesing’s departure, numbers like that aid KU’s competitiveness and provide hope.
That’s why those who braved the elements at Memorial Stadium on Saturday held their collective breath when Cummings showed signs of an injury for the second week in a row. Bowen admitted after the game that the coaching staff initially was concerned about the injury, but only until they could talk to Cummings.
“Mike’s playing through some soreness, some things that hurt,” said Bowen of the injury his quarterback downplayed after the game. “(He’s) obviously a tough young man that battles. It’s going to take a lot to get Mike out of the game.”
Added King: “Mike is a very tough player, and when you have someone at quarterback that’s that tough, it just makes you want to go harder for him, knowing that he wants to be in the game and still make plays and do everything he can to help the team. He’s very tough. He just always says, ‘I’m good,’ and gets back in and does what he does.”