Dyer delighted about bowl

By Chris Wristen     Dec 15, 2003

Bill Snead/Journal-World Photo
Kansas University quarterback Bill Whittemore (4) listens as offensive coordinator Nick Quartaro calls a play. The Jayhawks practiced Sunday at Anschutz Pavilion in preparation for their Tangerine Bowl game against North Carolina State.

Zach Dyer always expected to play in a bowl game during his football career at Kansas University. He just figured it would have happen sooner than his fifth year.

Kansas had the talent to earn a bowl bid during previous seasons. It had enough depth. It had capable players. At least that’s what Dyer, an admitted eternal optimist, wanted to believe.

“I saw quite a bit of talent, and I thought the team was really on the rise,” Dyer said, recalling his impression of the KU program when he signed with the Jayhawks out of Olathe South High in the fall of 1998. “For whatever reasons, the talent and everything just didn’t come about on the field. There wasn’t quite the team chemistry that there needed to be.”

Five years later, those ingredients have come together, the chemistry is bubbling over and the Jayhawks (6-6) find themselves preparing for a Dec. 22 date with North Carolina State (7-5) in the Tangerine Bowl. Kickoff will be 4:30 p.m. at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, Fla.

“That’s definitely the one that we wanted to go to,” Dyer said. “It’ll be a nice vacation, but it’s also a chance for us to go show what we can do against a very good football team.”

Bill Snead/Journal-World Photo
Kansas running back Clark Green, center, talks to receiver Moderick Johnson (6) during practice. The Jayhawks continued preparations for the Tangerine Bowl Sunday at Anschutz Pavilion. KU will meet North Carolina State Dec. 22 in Orlando, Fla.

Dyer said the Jayhawks are savoring the next two weeks of practice as they prepare for the program’s first postseason appearance since the 1995 squad thumped UCLA, 51-30, in the Aloha Bowl — back when Dyer was just a freshman in high school.

Suffice to say Dyer relishes this trip as much as anyone. And why shouldn’t he? After all, he was a red-shirt freshman on former coach Terry Allen’s 5-7 squad that came oh-so-close to bowl eligibility. Then he endured four-, three- and two-win seasons in each of the last three years. During that time he went from starting quarterback to third-string safety.

There’s been as much stability in Dyer’s position on the field as there has been throughout the Kansas program during the last five years.

“Going into this season as a senior … that’s real tough, almost feeling like you’re on even ground with the guys who are freshmen and sophomores,” Dyer said of the constant position shifting. “That kind of puts you at a disadvantage, so that was difficult.”

Lack of experience at his position and minimal playing time never caused the 2003 season to lose its luster in Dyer’s eyes, however. In fact, KU’s special teams captain embraced it. That just meant the program was signing more talented players so it could win more games.

Winning is all Dyer ever wanted anyway.

“I’ve always been positive on this program,” he said. “Seeing the level of dedication and the way people work day-in and day-out, and the way people work during the winter months when no one else here is looking. It’s been frustrating because that hasn’t always translated to success on the field.”

Until now. That, Dyer said, makes all the sacrifices and struggles in the past worthwhile. Dyer now is getting his chance finally to play in a bowl game. Kansas is at the level where he expected it to be five years ago, but as far as Dyer is concerned, it’s better late than never.

“It’s a great way to go out, with a bowl game,” Dyer said, “and also seeing the program starting to rise. Coming back being an alumni, it’ll be nice to see a good program and something that you were a part of the beginning of making it.”

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