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Keegan: Reesing, Meier draw winning play in sand

A platoon of coaches on both sides watching two solid weeks of football game film from sunup to way past sundown. Memorizing formations. Devising schemes. Constantly studying. Boiling it down and drilling it into the heads of the players.

Mangino offers no excuses

Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino does not like talking about the past - or, for that matter, the future.

KU receiver Meier finalist for Biletnikoff

Kansas wide receiver Kerry Meier has been named as one of 10 finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation’s top wide receiver. Meier is tied for 14th in the nation in receptions per game at 6.90 and ranks 36th in the country with 79.40 yards per game.

Big 12 football notebook

¢ QB cornucopia ¢ J.J. joins the fray ¢ Griffin clickin’ ¢ OU-NU Days of yore ¢ The eyes have it ¢ KU’s Meier near record ¢ Grounded Gobs

A new deep threat

Meier becoming long-distance target, too

Without a doubt, Kansas University junior Todd Reesing has changed the complexion of the football program. Before the 5-foot-11, 200-pound quarterback arrived in Lawrence, the Jayhawks were a lesson in mediocrity, a team that - in a good year - could hope to make a middle-of-the road bowl.

Meier rises to occasion

When the opportunity presented itself for Kansas University to leave its field-goal team on the sidelines and go for a touchdown instead, Kerry Meier knew his name would be called. And as he usually does, the Jayhawks’ most sure-handed football receiver delivered on a challenging fourth-and-seven with Kansas trailing Iowa State on the road in the third quarter. Talk about a crowd silencer.

Meier leads nation in receptions

The first time Kerry Meier ever took the football field as a wide receiver at any level was last year for Mark Mangino. Now, the Jayhawks former starting QB is the nation’s top receiver.

Keegan: Keegan: Meier faithful receiver

Ed Warinner, the mastermind behind the Kansas University football team’s no-huddle, spread offense, gets high grades for innovative thinking. An offensive coordinator’s job can grow pretty complicated, but Warinner’s most brilliant move to date was right in front of his face.

Readily reliable

Sure-handed Meier's 29 catches tied for tops in nation

The declaration from Kansas University wide-receivers coach David Beaty was made succinctly and matter-of-factly. Standing in a crowded conference room in the school’s new Anderson Family Football Complex last month, Beaty was rattling off answers to questions about the team’s receiving corps - strengths, weakness, expectations, etc.

Meier relishing roles

Kansas receiver/QB/punter flourishing

Kerry Meier could have been the poster boy for taking one for the team. He ended up the Sports Illustrated cover boy instead. Meier, starting quarterback for the Kansas University football team for most of the 2006 season, lost that job last year to Todd Reesing. But the KU coaches thought Meier could help the team more on the field than the sideline, so they approached him about the possibility of becoming a slash - as in, quarterback/wide receiver - and Meier agreed.

Keegan: Keegan: Mangino a visionary

Meier, Reesing typical of coach's genius

Two Kansas University football players who happened to be roommates two years ago best capture the Mark Mangino era. One is quarterback Todd Reesing, a perfect example of Mangino’s ability to see a big-time college football player where others saw a high school star too short to have a high ceiling. The other is former quarterback Kerry Meier, who symbolizes the upgrade in athletic ability that Mangino has been able to lure to Kansas. He also symbolizes Mangino’s ability to find a way to put the best athletes on the field.

Meier to get more time at wideout this season

Kerry Meier started the 2007 college football season as a backup quarterback. He finished the year, however, with a much larger role.

Keegan: Keegan: Next KU returner? Mmm :

Mark Mangino’s football teams typically are among the least-penalized in the nation, and the special teams routinely rank among the best in the Big 12. More often than not, they’re on the right side of the give-away, take-away ratio. All three areas generally are considered accurate barometers of how well-coached a football team is. Mangino believes in putting the best players on special teams. Some coaches believe in putting the best of the rest, as in non-starters.

Keegan: Keegan: Meier a team player

College football has so many awards that one of these days you half expect someone to come up with a new one in honor of the nation’s best backup quarterback. It could be called the Kerry Meier Award. Meier’s transition to receiver has been such a compelling development, what has been lost is how well he runs Ed Warinner’s offense when Heisman Trophy candidate Todd Reesing is watching from the sideline.

Meier wears many hats, but one jersey, in practice

Considering over 100 men work at a typical Kansas University football practice, it’s really saying something that Kerry Meier still manages to stick out like a ripe tomato among them all. Literally. Though the sophomore often strays from his home position of quarterback to work with receivers and even as a punter, Meier keeps the red “don’t touch me” jersey on, a color normally reserved for the quarterbacks.

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