Thursday, August 28, 2008

Wilson likes ‘sleeper’ status

Unheralded Kansas wide receiver earns starting spot

By Dugan Arnett

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Kansas O-Line has experience, youth

Protecting KU quarterback Todd Reesing this season comes down to a mix of experience and youth.

The thing about Kansas University sophomore receiver Johnathan Wilson is that, heading into Saturday's home opener against Florida International, it is not quite clear whether he fits under the umbrella of "Next Big Thing" or "Unproven Entity."

On the one hand, Wilson beat out a number of talented receivers to earn a starting spot on the Jayhawks' Week 1 depth chart. On the other, he has caught a total of three passes in his time at Kansas.

On the one hand, he seems to have won over teammates with his dogged work ethic and beefed-up frame. On the other, he has largely gone overlooked as a member of a receiving corps that also includes Dexton Fields (834 yards, six touchdowns in '07), Dezmon Briscoe (496 yards, seven touchdowns) and Kerry Meier (274 yards, two touchdowns).

"I don't feel like I'm the forgotten one, but a little bit of a sleeper," Wilson said. "But I like that, you know what I'm saying? That's what I was in high school. I was a sleeper. I emerged on the scene late. But I don't have any problem with that. Eventually, people will know my name."

As a senior at Houston's Klein Forest High, Wilson caught 39 passes for 784 yards and 12 touchdowns, meaning that, for every three times he caught a pass, one would turn into a touchdown.

But due to his perceived lack of speed, college coaches seemed to shy away from the 6-foot-3, 187-pound receiver.

Despite his relative obscurity as a prep player, though, he doesn't seem to lack much hype within the confines of the team's locker room. Teammates have routinely spoken highly of Wilson throughout KU's recent training camp, while earlier this summer they voted him the player most likely to surprise people this season.

(It is important to note here that last season, faced with the same question, members of the team selected Marcus Henry, who did nothing except catch 54 passes for 1,014 yards and 10 touchdowns before being drafted in the sixth round of last April's NFL draft).

"He hasn't had a lot of publicity yet," said fellow receiver Kerry Meier on Wednesday. "But I think he's kind of caught the people's eye a little bit already. And come Saturday, I think he's going to catch a lot more people's eyes."

And having improved both his speed and knowledge of the team's offensive system, coaches are convinced he's got the ability to contribute to the Jayhawks' offensive attack entering the most anticipated football season in school history.

"He's starting to play now because he has a good understanding of what he's doing," said first-year wide receivers coach David Beaty. "And because he's playing with confidence, he's playing faster. He's able to use all those tools that God's given him. And that makes him much more of a productive player for us."

¢ Practice fields empty: Meier confirmed Wednesday what has long been rumored to be true about the Kansas football team's new dual practice fields: they have gone largely unused.

"It's been a while since we've been out there," Meier said Wednesday. "But those few short days that we were out there, it was great. ... Hopefully in the near future, we can get back out there and practice over there."

The fields were part of the $31 million Anderson Family Football Complex project completed earlier this summer and meant to provide the program with state-of-the-art facilities. However, following concerns over the unrestricted view offered by the fields, KU head coach Mark Mangino elected to practice in the more private Memorial Stadium.

KU associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said last week that a $90,000 project had been approved in which trees would be planted around the practice fields in an effort to provide privacy to the team's practices - a decision expected to allow the Jayhawks to return to them in the foreseeable future.

Comments

JayViking (anonymous) says...

31 mil and someone couldn't figure out he'd want to block viewing access. :)

August 28, 2008 at 6:11 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

TKELuke (anonymous) says...

Doesn't the field set lower than the road anyways. So basically you could just look over the new trees?

August 28, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

chuckberry32 (anonymous) says...

Pretty good highlight reel of Reesing on SI.com's heisman watch!

August 28, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

KU (anonymous) says...

2 days and 9 hours......But who's counting, right?

August 28, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

Does anyone else feel like Briscoe is going to be the key to the passing game? The way I see it, he's the guy that can really be a difference maker with his size, speed and athleticism. Not saying that Fields and Meier and the others won't get their catches, but I just remember that Briscoe seemed to be the one that could go out and make a ridiculous catch in traffic, or deep (when he held onto the ball). If he's more consistent, I feel really good about our big play ability.

August 28, 2008 at 9:15 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

okjhok (anonymous) says...

No doubt on Briscoe. What impressed me most about him last year was his strength. I don't have his YAC numbers, but I know he broke a LOT of tackles. I think it's safe to say he'll break records before he's done at KU.

August 28, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Rivethead (anonymous) says...

Briscoe - yes, see last year's KSU game for a basic example (3 td catches)

August 28, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

rolo2383 (anonymous) says...

I completed my final walk thru this morning before Saturdays game. I practiced my 5 minute walk to the stadium from my home. I don't think there's much more I can do but hope everything works out before Saturdays game.

I work for the university. Yesterday I was working close to the field and they were practicing in the stadium. They were planting pine trees along the East side of the practice field at that time. I'm not sure that's going to do the trick. Who knows how long it will take those 10' trees to grow tall enough to block the view. And who can stop someone from climbing up into the trees? You can see the practice field from all angles. I'm not sure trees are the answer.

August 28, 2008 at 10:03 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jaminrawk (anonymous) says...

Wow, glad we gave up those parking spaces.

They need to just wheel out a huge opaque banner that advertises the upcoming season or just Kansas Football in general. That could block the field. Might sound stupid but that is the only thing I can think would work.

August 28, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

zissou (anonymous) says...

I like the sound of this kid. If he pans out the way it sounds like he might, Mangino and his scouts deserves all the respect in the world.

August 28, 2008 at 12:40 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

sstuckey (anonymous) says...

Pretty soon they'll be raising money for a "practice bubble".

August 28, 2008 at 1:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

shawneehawk (anonymous) says...

I can't believe that after all this that they're going to go unused!! gimmee a break- put up canopy's or tents or
something!!!

August 28, 2008 at 2:32 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

JBurtin (anonymous) says...

One thing that I was surprised they didn't use are the plastic strips that can be woven into a chain link fence. They give it a nice look and could block the view from the easiest angles. Then the trees could pick up the slack on the east side where there are multiple places to watch from above. Perhaps even an overhanging section of fence similar to a baseball backstop could work. Then the team could practice privately on the east field and still leave the west field for simple drills.

Hopefully they get it figured out, it would be a shame to waste a great practice space.

August 28, 2008 at 2:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )