What caught my eye at Saturday's practice: March 9 - Part II | Tale of the Tait

Posted by Matt Tait March 11, 2013 at 4:50 p.m.

What caught my eye at Saturday's practice: March 9 - Part II

Because last Saturday was my first chance to get a quick glance at KU's new-look football program, my "What caught my eye" feature ran a little long.

So here's the second part of a list of things that stood out to me as I took in about an hour of KU's third practice of the spring — and first with pads.

If you missed my video from last Saturday's Hannah & Friends clinic, be sure to check that out. The Jayhawks and participants really seemed to have a great time. Many of them are still talking about it today. Also, if you missed Part I of what caught my eye, go take a look at that, too.

If you're all caught up, here's Part II:

• Got my first look at the newly formed offensive line and I liked a lot of what I saw. One thing that really struck me was the fact that while the current starting five was working its way through drills — Pat Lewandowski, Mike Smithburg, Dylan Admire, Ngalu Fusimalohi and Aslam Sterling — four guys with starting experience (Randall Dent, Gavin Howard, Damon Martin and Riley Spencer) were standing by watching them. There's a lot to be determined still with this group, but I like its potential and depth.

• Speaking of Lewandowski, I think he could be a real surprise this season. It looks like he's got great feet — perhaps even better than last year's left tackle, Tanner Hawkinson — and he's a fierce competitor. The only thing holding him back from being truly ready in the past was his size. But now that he's up to 290 pounds, he appears to be coming along nicely.

• Freshman running back Colin Spencer was involved in the offensive sets the Jayhawks ran during Saturday's practice and I think that's a sign of things to come. I wouldn't make too much of it, but I also wouldn't dismiss it. It's a crowded backfield and there's a ton of talent in front of him, but Spencer's a solid athlete with big-time speed. If he can pick up what they're throwing at him, I think he'll have a role in the offense.

• Long snapper John Wirtel, who announced on signing day that he was walking-on at KU next season, was in attendance watching practice with his family. Seemed like nice people and I was impressed more than once by the way Wirtel's eyes were wide open while taking in what was unfolding in front of him. Recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello came over to the family during a break to welcome them. That was cool to see, too.

• There was no “Coach Weis Song of the Day” on Saturday, but there was a different familiar sign from last season — the exercise bike. Saturday, defensive back Tyree Williams and linebacker Schyler Miles were logging miles on the bike. Miles we knew about, Williams was new.

• JaCorey Shepherd, the junior wide receiver turned defensive back who wore No. 25 last season, has switched over to No. 24 this year.

• It was nice to see former Jayhawks, Maxwell Onyegbule (player) and Louie Matsakis (coach) back in crimson and blue, too.

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KJD 2 months, 1 week ago

""What caught my eye" feature ran a little long." What?!?! I know that you are working in a system, with bosses, that pay you, that also have a 'paper' to publish, but this sounds like print media has got you tied down brother.

It's good to see you back on the beat! Thanks.

canuckhawk 2 months, 1 week ago

I think you should read: "Weis isn't letting me attend very many of these practices so I'm going to spread these observations over several days to fill in time between other news."

KJD 2 months, 1 week ago

To be clear, my comment had nothing to do with Mr. Tait's excellent work. It did have everything to do with the structure he is publishing through.

canuckhawk you extend the point quite well with your pull-quote: "I'm going to spread these observations over several days to fill in time between other news". What would motivate Mr. Tait, a news man, to hold what is new (news) concerning his observations that he has already made. I'll bet the house that it has everything to do with clicks, driving up unique page views, and selling advertisements. That’s the way it works and that is the way we happy consumers get to keep up to date on our favorite sports teams!

canuckhawk you should find out what a Kindle does if you haven’t already and how much time people spend consuming content, and a lot of the same content, on screens these days, especially in relationship to buying newspapers. Check out this article to see for yourself how much sports content that can be elegantly published on one page http://es.pn/f3O59w If you are grasping those concepts, and I’m surprised if you did before you made that comment, then move to something that writers-for-hire' in this new era of publishing are contemplating, practicing and implementing (adaptive content) http://bit.ly/NG6CMX . Of course you can't implement adaptive content until publishers invest in more robust content management systems (content strategy) http://bit.ly/n9BRc2 . This also means editors who understand these new work-flows and strategies. And to circle back to what is driving the need to make content more robust is that there are so many devices, with so many different screen sizes, with so many operating systems, applications and browsers displaying content . So, Publishers will need to update their content and CMS to create better user experiences across platforms or be exposed to being outdone. We are not moving towards a singularity of devices and presentational format, we are moving to ever more device avenues which display a variety of content demands. Without decent User Experience http://bit.ly/ec7Nue and without a steady flow of Users then there will be less clicks, less unique page views, less ads to sell, and less payroll dollars to spend.

KJD 2 months, 1 week ago

If you don't think KUSports.com and the Lawrence Journal World are not keenly aware of this present and future then tell me why they launched a mobile version of KUSports.com. 20th century publishers are absolutely worried that there market share could be shattered by young, savvy upstarts–especially those educated, with tools and can't get hired to do what they love to do. If you haven't noticed, newsprint publishers are working on smaller budgets, with smaller staffs, or they are getting bought and stripped down, or they are up closing shop. New technology is a big time challenge when you are maintaining an old time print overhead, especially for a small town like Lawrence.

To add another edge to this perspective, I like the new overall design on this site when they added the textures, rounded some corners, implemented a broader color/gray palette, updated the navigations... When it comes to the column title’s being strong along with the visual content in the new mastheads being as equally strong, I like ‘Five-minute Scout’ and ‘Tale of the Tait’ best. Being a long time reader and knowing how Jesse approaches his reporting I really like the new masthead for The Newell Post, especially the background with the screened back numbers and picking up on the grainy texture which is part of the general Art Direction of the design update. Instead of just some heavy sanserif numbers could it convey stats or did they design one like that and it became to busy? That last question is to extend the conversation on how this is a 'new media publication'. With a layered PhotoShop document handy the graphic designer could refine or freshen up a masthead on the fly when there is time. It will be fairly quick and easy to update the Newell Post masthead next fall when the Men‘s Basketball team has a new starting five.

As long as I’m adding edges to elucidate the first comment, lets take a look under the hood. The presentational code that tells devices and software how to render a page. That is a true vanguarde profession today. Personally, I’m not a big fan of ‘desktop’ version and ‘mobile’ version. I like continuity of content on each page that I visit no matter if I am on my desktop, on my iPad, on my iPhone, or surfing on my 64" flat screen through my PlayStation 3. I don’t want people guessing what content matters most to ‘me’ on this page because what is important to ‘me’ is not always going to be the same as ‘you’ and will never be the same for ‘everyone’.

KJD 2 months, 1 week ago

The solution for the presentational level that I like best is being solved by sites like http://www.grantland.com/ where you can best see how this works on a laptop or a desktop. Open the window so it is about 960px wide. You will see (March 20th, 2013) a three column first row displaying three features (this replaces those slide-shows to emphasize editorially preferred content). Below the Logo row, main nav row, and sponsor ad banner is a two column main content area with a footer to cap the end of the page. Now make the window skinnier, more narrow, less pixels wide until you witness some code fu magic. The first row disappears, the sponsor banner ad disappears, the main content area becomes a 1 column layout and the second column content is now rendered much lower on the page (which you should recognize as an issue which supports my first comment about screen content NEVER being too long!). What you are seeing with the one column main content area is what you see on devices like iPad’s and especially on pocket devices like iPhone's. Everyone can get to the same content that they can get to on larger devices. Also notice that the ‘page sponsor’ still has an emphasized presence on either rendering along with maintaining the square ad that appears in the second column of the 960px wide version. The publisher would most likely have to hire someone like http://www.metaltoad.com/ to accomplish the full CMS/code fu update. The challenge these days is when do you dump a boat load of cash on such an overhaul, especially when you just put your chips down on maintaining two sets (desktop and mobile) of presentational code instead of a more seamless strategy. There are always budget concerns and the mobile strategy I would guess was layered on top of an older CMS and a strategy that works for their budget.

So, canuckhawk , that should help you better understand where my comment was coming from. It had more to do with empathy. Maybe this long format comment will help you understand what was inside of that nod and a wink. Also, thanks, because it is always good to keep sharp in written explanations on this topic.