Kansas City, Mo. ? There’s a fine line between confidence and false bravado, and Kansas University football coach Terry Allen grudgingly admits he might have crossed that line last season.
All during the preseason, Allen spoke of the Jayhawks’ season-opener at Notre Dame as a good opportunity, and he publicly said Kansas had a chance to go bowling.
It didn’t, falling short with a 5-7 overall record.
“I was trying to build some false confidence,” Allen said Thursday at the Big 12 football media days at the Marriott Crown Center Plaza. “I was trying to get them higher than maybe they should have been.”
It didn’t work, so Allen is careful to temper his enthusiasm this year.
“We don’t have to come up with false confidence this year, Allen said. “It’s easier to sit back and be realistic. We have some proven players instead of grabbing at straws.
“Those guys,” Allen said, referring to the likes of Carl Nesmith, Moran Norris and Dylen Smith, “are natural leaders. Their teammates rally around them. They’re something you can hang your hat on. That’s why I’m a little more excited.
“But that’s why I didn’t sleep real well last night, and it wasn’t because I was nervous about coming over here and talking to you guys. We just have to state the obvious and let everything else fall into place.”
It could start to fall into place on Sept. 2, when the Jayhawks open their season at Southern Methodist, a program in a similar state.
“You never want to say one game is the most important, but that could be our most important game,” Allen said. “If you want a red-letter day, that’s it. ” We still have some million-dollar questions. We could fall off that cliff quickly, but we could build some momentum.”
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Suspensions: Allen confirmed Thursday that he had suspended the two players allegedly involved in an alleged sexual assault last spring at a Lawrence bar.
One of the two has since been declared academically ineligible and will not return to the team. The other was suspended for a “short period,” and, “If we had a game tomorrow,” Allen said, “that individual would play.”
However, Allen said that player’s standing could change depending on the outcome of the ongoing legal investigation.
Charges have not yet been filed in that case. Investigators previously cited the summer break as a hindrance to the probe.
Allen declined to name the two players, and it is Journal-World policy not to name suspects in sex crimes unless they are convicted.
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Weight-room standards: Kansas senior fullback Moran Norris, a 6-foot-2, 245-pound senior fullback, set the school bench-press record on Thursday. Norris benched 540 pounds, eclipsing the old mark of 535 pounds set by Chuck Norris in 1997.
Offensive lineman Justin Sands, a 6-foot-7, 285-pound sophomore converted defensive lineman, set the school record with a 167 1/2-kilo (369 1/4-pound) power clean. The old mark was 363 pounds by Dave Marcum in 1992.
And running back David Winbush, a 5-7, 180-pound senior running back, set the school standard with a 3.77-second 20-yard shuttle run, bettering his old standard of 3.79 set in 1999. Winbush also holds the school’s vertical leap record of 40 1/2 inches.
