Camp crammed

By David Mitchell Jun 16, 2004

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo

McCluer North's Stacy Russell, left, and Brandon Thompson go up for the ball. The players participated in the Jayhawk All-Positions Camp on Tuesday at KU. Russell came down with the ball during the catching drill.

Kansas University’s football staff will wrap up its summer camps today with the final session of the Jayhawk All-Positions Camp.

Not surprisingly, KU’s first bowl trip since 1995 has coincided with an increase in campers.

“That’s how it works,” said coach Mark Mangino, whose program ended an eight-year postseason drought in December with a berth in the Tangerine Bowl. “As your program finds success, your numbers grow.”

This week’s five-day camp drew 170 athletes — up from 124 last year — from 11 states. It didn’t hurt that McCluer North coach Jim Schottmueller brought half his team. The school from Florissant, Mo., brought 42 players and six coaches.

“Every year we go somewhere else,” said Schottmueller, whose team has camped at Oklahoma, Nebraska and Northern Illinois — among others — in recent years.

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photos

Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino chats with campers during stretches. Mangino held camp Tuesday on the KU practice fields.

McCluer North produced KU freshman receiver Tony King, former Jayhawk Dorian Brew, as well as a handful of players who went to Kansas State when Mangino was a member of Bill Snyder’s staff.

Schottmueller said at least three of the McCluer North players who camped at KU this week likely will sign Division One letters of intent this winter — tight end defensive end Steve Davis, running back Donald Allen and receiver Marc Washington. Davis and Allen already have received multiple scholarship offers from Big 12 and Big Ten conference schools, though Schottmueller declined to name names.

While many players attend camps to showcase their skills for college coaches, that wasn’t the reason Schottmueller loaded up his bus and headed for Lawrence.

“That’s not our purpose — to get kids recruited,” said Schottmueller, whose team was 8-2 last season. “The reason we go to camp is for our program. It’s good for our kids to sleep, eat and live together. We’re building team chemistry, and that’s what I want to get out of this.

“I tell the parents their kids aren’t going on vacation. They work hard, and they get their money’s worth. We want them to be thinking about football.”

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo

Ritchie Blazevic, a quarterback at Overland Park Aquinas High, unleashes during a throwing exercise at the Kansas University football camp.

That shouldn’t have been a problem this week. Campers worked out with their respective position groups for about two hours each morning and two more hours in the afternoon before returning for seven-on-seven drills in the evening.

Final tally: KU’s six camps in 16 days drew approximately 1,000 athletes. A one-day camp in Wichita drew 131 players — up from 34 last summer. KU’s seven-on-seven camp, dubbed The Great Plains Shootout, drew 34 teams and 510 players — up from 32 teams and 480 players last year.

KU utilized three football practice fields, two soccer fields and Anschutz Pavilion for seven-on-seven, while Memorial Stadium was occupied by a camp for linemen.

“If the baseball team hadn’t had a camp going on, I would have gone over and begged coach (Ritch) Price to let us use his field,” Mangino said.

Time off: With camps completed, KU’s staff will begin a six-week period during which each coach will take three weeks vacation and work half days for another week. Players, meanwhile, will continue their summer workout program — which started June 8 — with the strength and conditioning staff until July 28. Players then have a week off before reporting back to campus Aug. 6, the day before preseason practices begin.

Tear up the turf: After camp ends today, KU will begin the process of replacing the two practice fields directly behind Anschutz Pavilion. The $120,000 project will include improved drainage, new sod and a new irrigation system. KU officials said the fields should be ready for preseason practices.

Sands sliced: The Cincinnati Bengals cut former Kansas University offensive lineman Justin Stands on Tuesday. Sands, who originally signed with the Buffalo Bills as a free agent after the 2003 draft, joined the Bengals in December.

Wedding bells: The biggest event of Mangino’s summer will be June 26 when daughter Samantha walks down the aisle at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. Samantha Mangino, a December KU graduate who works for Educational Resources Inc. in Overland Park, will wed recent Kansas State graduate David Hardy, who works for Commerce Bank in Kansas City, Mo. The couple plan to live in Overland Park.