Kansas University’s defense will have more to worry about than just quarterback Philip Rivers when the Jayhawks meet North Carolina State Dec. 22 in the Tangerine Bowl.
N.C. State football coach Chuck Amato said Tuesday that sophomore running back T.A. McLendon should be ready to go when the Wolfpack (7-5) play the Jayhawks (6-6) in Orlando, Fla.
“McLendon’s going through everything,” said Amato, whose team had its third day of bowl preparation Tuesday. “He was out there for the last game and got banged up again. He’s a tough youngster who has been legitimately banged up all year. Hopefully we’ll have him for 60 minutes Dec. 22.”
McLendon (5-foot-11, 215 pounds) was the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-ACC selection as a freshman last season when he rushed for 1,101 yards and 18 touchdowns and caught 42 passes for 354 yards.
He missed four games this year because of knee, hamstring and shoulder injuries and finished the regular season with 536 rushing yards and seven TDs.
“He’s had every injury imaginable,” Amato said. “He plays awfully hard, and it might be a little bit of bad luck, too. He’s taken a lot of hard hits, and he’s hit a lot of people, too.”
N.C. State hasn’t played since suffering a 26-24 loss to Maryland Nov. 22 in the regular-season finale. The time off has been good for McLendon, and a healthy running game would make Rivers — the ACC Player of the Year — even more difficult to defend. The senior has passed for 4,016 yards and 29 touchdowns.
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Finally: N.C. State is planning practices around final exams, which started Monday and run through Dec. 16.
“The finals schedule has actually been good to us,” Amato said. “Most of the players have finals in the morning and are done by 11. Tomorrow 18 players have finals from 1 to 4 so we have to push practice back, but that’s really the only day it’s going to be a problem.”
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Friday is the final day of classes at KU, and finals run Dec. 15-19. Some Jayhawks likely will have to take exams early because the team was expected to arrive Dec. 17 in Orlando.
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Ticket update: Kansas University associated athletic director Jim Marchiony said Tuesday that KU had sold about 2,400 tickets for the Tangerine Bowl.
KU officials are trying to boost that number by phoning and mailing Jayhawk fans. It appeared that the game’s proximity to Christmas would prevent many local fans from traveling out of state, but KU officials weren’t limiting their efforts to the Southeast.
“We’re sending things out to KU alumni everywhere,” Marchiony said.
N.C. State received an allotment of 12,500 tickets, and Kansas received 12,000. Athletic director Lew Perkins has said that the Big 12 Conference would take care of any shortfall if KU can’t sell its share of the $45 tickets.
Tangerine Bowl spokesman Brett Sowell said 10,375 tickets had been sold in Orlando.
Marchiony said about 100 people had signed up for the free tickets the athletic department is offering KU students, who have until Dec. 15 to register at KU’s athletic ticket office.
