“Right after spring football ended, I told the coaches I wanted to high jump. I said I could jump 7-foot-2. I don’t know if they believed me,” said Hackler, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound nonscholarship sophomore football wide receiver out of Fort Scott Community College.

Hackler, who won the Kansas Class 6A state high jump championship his senior year at Olathe East, didn’t clear 7-2 during his first meet as a Jayhawk. He did record a personal-best mark of 6-113/4, good for second at last week’s Husker Invitational.

Hackler barely missed on his third try at 7-13/4 and is ranked fifth in the Big 12 heading into this weekend’s conference championships at Texas A&M.

“It’s like riding a bike for me,” said Hackler, who hadn’t jumped in a meet since the 1999 state meet in Wichita. “It comes natural to me. Obviously, there are some things I need to work on in terms of technique.”

Yet he’s coming along nicely, says KU jumps coach Brian Ferry, who admits he was skeptical the day Hackler asked to join the track team.

“I knew nothing of the kid,” Ferry said. “He said he’d like to high jump. We have a lot of kids who walk in and say they’ve done this and that. We said, ‘All right, we’ll give it a try.’

“I could tell after a day he had some talent. I think he’s the real deal. He’s definitely a competitor and he’s a great athlete. I think he can do a great job at conference.”

Hackler is not putting any limits on himself.

“Yes, there is a way,” Hackler said of winning the league high jump competition. “It’d be awesome to win it. My goal is to qualify for nationals and win the conference.”

He needs a jump of 7-21/2 to qualify for the NCAAs. KU’s school record is 7-41/2 set by Tyke Peacock in 1982.

“You’ve got to aim high,” Hackler said. “I don’t know if the other jumpers know about me. I hope they know me by the time the meet is over with.”

Missouri’s Jay Meystedt and Nebraska’s Shaun Kologinczak lead the Big 12 Conference with jumps of 7-21/2.

“I think it’s anybody’s ballgame,” Ferry said. “I really believe if he’s healthy and it’s a nice day, he’ll do very well.”

Hackler transferred to KU in December after playing receiver two years at Fort Scott CC. He didn’t compete in track at the junior college for a simple reason.

Fort Scott has no track team.

“In deciding to come to a place like Kansas, of course I thought I might try high jumping again,” Hackler said. “My high school coach kept getting on me about it. I think he believes I have a lot of potential and wants me to see what I can do.

“A couple of times I’d go back to my high school and jump in jeans and tennis shoes, just to see if I could still get over the bar.”

Now he’s thinking he just might compete four years in track at KU and two in football. He’ll likely red-shirt in football next season.

“Spring football went well,” Hackler said. “Being new in Div. I, some of the people who have been here three to four years have an advantage on me. Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to contribute at receiver.”

Ferry believes he’ll contribute greatly in track.

“Once he trains specific to track and jumping movements, it’ll benefit him,” Ferry said. “The nice thing is we don’t have any high, high jumpers right now. We’re recruiting a lot. To have a 7-foot high jumper on your own campus who wants to jump, we’re excited about that.”