Is the future now for Kansas University’s football team? Or is the future in the, uh, future?
If you watched Saturday’s Kansas-Nebraska football game at Memorial Stadium, you know the answer to both questions is yes.
Kansas coach Mark Mangino made that clear when he opted for the most dramatic, radical and perhaps even controversial moves a KU football coach has made since anyone could remember.
Mangino turned two of his best young players — red-shirt freshman Charles Gordon and true freshman John Randle — into throwbacks to two-platoon football. Randle, the Jayhawks’ backup running back, also became a starting cornerback. And Gordon, a starting wide receiver, became Randle’s backup on the corner.
Ten games into the season, and Mangino flat-out benched his regular cornerbacks. Shelton Simmons, Donnie Amadi and Remuise Johnson played only on special teams Saturday. Talk about a bold move.
Specifically, Mangino shifted strong safety Tony Stubbs to the other corner and elevated second-teamer Dan Coke to strong safety. The only secondary position left untouched was free safety, where Jonathan Lamb started for the 10th straight game.
Mangino promised he would do something after the Jayhawks’ secondary had played so poorly last weekend at Texas A&M, but nobody expected such jaw-dropping moves, especially this late in the season.
Long-time Kansas football observers were scratching their heads trying to remember the last time a KU player had performed so extensively on both platoons. A few former Jayhawks — Tony Blevins came to mind — had played both defensive back and wide receiver, but only in spot situations, and definitely not as much as Gordon and Randle did.
Mangino’s surprising move wasn’t without precedent. When he was at Kansas State, Chris Canty was used in the secondary and at wide receiver. And at Oklahoma, Andre Woolfolk was also a double-dipper.
It’s doubtful, though, that Canty and Woolfolk logged as much double duty as Randle and Gordon did Saturday.
Official game stats didn’t record how many downs Randle and Gordon were on the field Saturday, but the two played extensively both ways. Gordon led the Jayhawks with six receptions and was credited with five tackles and a pass break-up.
Randle carried the ball seven times and was listed with three tackles, and he lost a fumble at the one-yard line. On the flip side, he was also burned once and was flagged for a pass-interference penalty.
Afterward, Mangino emphasized he had assigned a trainer to keep close watch on the two youngsters to make sure they weren’t overtaxing themselves. Neither complained of fatigue after the game.
Randle, in fact, may have been more concerned about losing his jersey number. Randle had been wearing No. 1 on offense, but couldn’t wear it on defense because linebacker Gabe Toomey had custody of that digit. So when Randle showed up before the game, he found a No. 10 jersey at his locker.
“I’ve had No. 1 since I was in the eighth grade,” Randle said, “but that’s OK.”
Kansas University’s best football players are, for the most part, freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and sophomores. Mangino’s implicit message Saturday was that he would put as many of them on the field as he felt it would take for the Jayhawks, now losers of four of their last five outings, to secure the elusive sixth victory that will make them eligible for a bowl.
At the same time, Mangino is giving those young players invaluable experience. Freshman quarterback Adam Barmann is playing out of necessity because senior Bill Whittemore is injured. In the case of Gordon and Randle, though, it’s because the Jayhawks were treading water at cornerback and were about to go down for the third time.
Still, some may view Mangino’s decision to add to Gordon’s and Randle’s workloads as an act of desperation. Others may see it as evidence Mangino has a solid grasp on the big picture. Whatever, what’s done is done.
Here’s the question you need to ask: Would Kansas have defeated Nebraska with Whittemore at quarterback and with the same pedestrian players at cornerback? Answer: Probably not.
And so Kansas lost to Nebraska for the 35th straight year with a freshmen playing his second game at quarterback, and a couple of freshmen playing defense for the first time since they were in high school.
In retrospect, all three probably played well enough to defeat a lesser-caliber team than Nebraska. And even if the trio of tyros do not play well enough Saturday to knock off a rejuvenated Oklahoma State team, they’re acquiring more on-the-job training — enough, hopefully, to help the Jayhawks win the game they may have to win in two weeks against Iowa State.