But even he admits he’d struggle to explain to a concerned mother that her son’s football season or even his career abruptly ended in early August on the High Roller. Or Nitro. Or the Wishbone.

Still, Allen thinks there are enough positives that come from making his newcomer class spend nearly two hours at the university’s Adams Campus Challenge Course out by Lone Star Lake that he plans to make it an annual outing.

“Yeah, a guy could get hurt out here,” Allen said after wincing his way through the wooded confidence course on a sultry Tuesday evening. “But he could get hurt just stepping on the practice field. Obviously, we think it’s worth it or we wouldn’t be here.”

The obstacle course frequented by youth groups, fraternities, sororities and even corporate bigwigs is designed to teach teamwork. It also serves as an orientation ice-breaker and a chance for the coaching staff to see which players emerge as natural leaders and natural followers.

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

“There are some things that take place out here that you can’t duplicate on a practice field,” Allen said. “You start to build belief in each other, in your teammates, and that’s important.”

Amen, said the, uh, chatty, Mario Kinsey, an athletic freshman quarterback who yipped his way through the course.

“I learned a lot about my teammates,” Kinsey said. “I mean, we’ve only been together two days, and we have to come together out here if we want to get anything done. We learned a lot about each and we came together.”

They had to.

On High Roller, for instance, they needed to help each other over an elevated cable spool without touching the sides with a handful of players blindfolded feet-first.

“That’s kinda scary, man,” juco linebacker-end De’Nard Whitfield said.

On the High Wall, the 31 juco newcomers, scholarship freshmen and preferred walk-ons had to hoist themselves some, again, blindfolded up a 14-foot wall.

On Nitro, they had to find a way to get all the team members across a “river” on a rope swing without spilling a cup of water and without touching the ground no easy feat when one of the players was Ervin Holloman, a 285-pounder whose weight bowed the trees to which the rope was attached.

Allen, who paced nervously during the most hamstring-endangering feats, kept his psychological examinations to himself.

“It’s not what I learned,” he said. “It’s what they learned about each other, and I think they learned a lot.”

They also appeared to have fun, giggling their way through the course, cracking one-liners and goading/encouraging their teammates all through the evening.

“When we first heard about it, when we heard we had to fall off a 10-foot platform and have your teammates catch you, yeah, I was a little nervous,” Kinsey said. “But it was fun. I’m glad we came.”

Hot, hot, hot: The heat index at the start of the challenge course was close to triple digits, but it paled in comparison to the newcomers’ first practice together earlier Tuesday. Allen reported the temperature on the new AstroPlay synthetic-grass surface at Memorial Stadium was 120 degrees. “It was hot, but not too bad,” Allen said, noting the players and coaches were enthusiastic in their support of the new rug.

Ailing: Derby freshman defensive lineman Travis Watkins attended but did not participate in the challenge course. He suffered an ankle injury in the Kansas Shrine Bowl, but is expected back within a week. Hoisington freshman offensive lineman Tony Coker sat out Saturday’s practice with “intestinal discomfort,” Allen reported, but the illness isn’t considered severe.

Wegner lands job: Former KU quarterback Zac Wegner is an assistant coach at Independence Community College. He’s an aide to Chip Schuler, a former Kansas offensive guard.

Upcoming: Veterans will report today, with media-day activities slated for Thursday. Friday is the first day of full-squad, noncontact practices.