Re-tooling begins at spring practices

By Ryan Wood     Mar 14, 2007

Kansas University’s football team opens its regular season in 51â2 months. Yet the work the Jayhawks put in over the next four weeks will say plenty about where they’re headed this year.

“Spring ball is important,” KU coach Mark Mangino said Tuesday. “I think spring ball sets the tempo for the fall. There’s no such thing as a guy who has a really bad spring and a great fall. It’s a progression.”

The on-field work heading toward the 2007 season starts today, when the Jayhawks have the first of 15 spring practices between now and the April 15 spring game.

This could perhaps be the most important spring season in years for KU. There’s the bitter taste of no bowl game last year to wash out. There are key position battles being hammered out. And there’s wrinkles with three new assistant coaches to iron out.

Nowhere is it more obvious than on offense. Ed Warinner returns to the KU coaching staff after two years at Illinois, this time serving as offensive coordinator.

Warinner is bringing new ideas and new concepts to KU’s offensive approach, both in execution on the field and preparation off of it.

“In the pass game, there’s some major restructuring,” Mangino said. “Some of it will be very noticeable by fans. Some things have changed in the structure that you will not recognize, that are internal. But we think it helps us in terms of learning.”

Mangino said during the search for a coordinator in January that, among other things, a more vertical passing game was desired. KU had offensive success in 2006, but the passing game at times lacked a true air-it-out attack that can carry high risk and high reward.

KU’s sixth-year coach wouldn’t get specific on gameplan changes and probably won’t reveal much before the Sept. 2 opener against Central Michigan. But he did say fans would notice some differences.

“There will be some routes that are different, there will be some formations you haven’t seen a lot of in the past or haven’t at all,” Mangino said. “There will be some motions and things of that sort that maybe we’ve used a little bit in the past that we’ll use moreso. There are some things we did in the past that you will no longer see.”

Mangino also feels that behind-the-scenes tinkering – such as restructuring the teaching of routes to offensive skill players – will help the Jayhawks soak in more information quicker. He also mentioned the quarterback position was simplified so the slingers could think less and play more.

Kerry Meier is expected to be the frontrunner for the quarterback spot, though it won’t be handed to him. Todd Reesing is the number one competitor.

“We have simplified some progressions and reads,” Mangino said. “We’re going to just put him in a situation where he has a couple of quick reads and an outlet. We won’t get into progression three, four or five. It’s futile. It doesn’t fit our personnel. It doesn’t fit my way of thinking, and it doesn’t fit Ed Warinner’s way of thinking.”

Today will mark KU’s first day to start sorting it all out with the whole team under their watch. There are 51â2 months to go, sure, but working through certain kinks is done most effectively on the field rather than away from it.

“Our players are looking forward to spring ball,” Mangino said. “They’re anxious to get started. We all are.”

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