Nick KrugWhile Kansas receiver Dezmon Briscoe has flown largely under the national radar this season, his statistics have been comparable to those of all-American Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree.
Total receiving yards705
Receiving yards per game100.71
Receptions per game6.1
Touchdowns8
Nick KrugNo. of 100-yard receiving games3
Highest single-game yardage total269
Highest single-game TD total3
Total receiving yards724
Receiving yards per game103.43
Receptions per game7.3
Touchdowns12
No. of 100-yard receiving games3
Highest single-game yardage total158
Highest single-game TD total3
In the days leading up to the Kansas University football team’s 11 a.m. matchup with eighth-ranked Texas Tech on Saturday, much of the pre-game focus will center on the Jayhawks ability to slow down Red Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree, last year’s Biletnikoff Award winner and consensus all-American.
What won’t be discussed nearly as much – but could play just as big a role in the game’s outcome – is how the Tech defense hopes to limit Kansas receiver Dezmon Briscoe.
While Crabtree is no doubt one of college football’s most recognizable stars, Briscoe, a sophomore who earned freshman all-American honorable mention honors last season, has quietly established himself as a comparable threat. Through seven games this season, Briscoe’s stats have been nearly identical to Crabtree’s. Both are ranked in the top 12 nationally in receiving yards per game (Crabtree is ninth in the nation with 103.4; Briscoe is 12th with 100.7) and total receiving yards (Crabtree is ninth with 724, Briscoe is 11th with 705). And while the Tech sophomore has the edge in receiving touchdowns – 12 to eight – Briscoe has been forced to share catches with one of the nation’s most reliable receivers in junior Kerry Meier.
“He has played extremely well,” said Kansas coach Mark Mangino on Tuesday, “and he has shown that he’s capable of being one of the top receivers in this league.”
Despite his steep production, however, Briscoe insists he doesn’t feel left out when talk of the conference’s most dangerous receivers centers primarily around Crabtree and Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant.
“No, he deserves it,” Briscoe said of Crabtree. “Obviously, for the simple fact that he was a Biletnikoff finalist last year, and the yardage and touchdowns he put up last year, he already proved himself. I’m still trying to get to his level, so I can’t really put myself on his caliber right now.”
With more performances like last week’s, however, that might soon change.
Against an Oklahoma defense ranked first in the Big 12, Briscoe caught 12 passes for 269 yards, both career-highs, and two touchdowns. The 269 yards marked the highest single-game total in the Big 12 this season, and the most in Kansas’ 109-year history.
If there’s a knock on the 6-foot-3, 200-pound receiver, it’s that he has struggled with consistency this season. Before last week’s breakout game, he had failed to surpass 50 yards in receiving in each of the previous two weeks, including a two-catch, 22-yard game against Iowa State. His receiving yardage per game this season is a bit roller-coaster in nature – in order, he has finished with 55, 146, 36, 124, 22, 48 and 269 yards – although he has scored in five different games.
The hope among coaches is that last week’s career performance will give him the confidence necessary to perform consistently throughout the rest of the season schedule, which still features games against Missouri and top-ranked Texas.
Briscoe said after Saturday’s game that while much of the credit for his success belonged to quarterback Todd Reesing, he felt the man coverage Oklahoma used against him for much of the game allowed him to make the plays he did.
And entering Saturday’s game, Briscoe would like the coaching staff at Texas Tech to know that a similar strategy Saturday would work just fine with him.
“I don’t know what their defensive plan is,” he said, smiling, “but I hope it stays the same.”
Nick KrugKansas City, Mo. ? Just four days after entering Allen Fieldhouse on a red carpet for Late Night in the Phog, the Kansas University women’s basketball team turned few heads Tuesday during Big 12 Women’s Basketball Media Day at Marriott Country Club Plaza.
Media members clamored for Oklahoma’s two-time All-American, Courtney Paris, and new Texas coach Gail Goestenkors, who won 396 games and went to four Final Fours at Duke before heading west to Austin, but ho-hummed about the Jayhawks, whom the league coaches picked to finish 10th this season.
Fourth-year KU coach Bonnie Henrickson, however, likes what she sees in her young squad, thanks in large part to the strides the Jayhawks made last season while giving five freshmen significant minutes.
“In the short-term, when we played all those young kids last year, it was painful, to be honest with you,” Henrickson said of the 11-20 campaign that featured one 2-15 stretch. “But for the growth of the program it was the best thing to do.”
Although the Jayhawks won’t have last year’s leading scorer, Shaquina Mosley, they have six returning players who averaged between five and 11 points.
“We have to have somebody step up and bring what Mosley did,” Henrickson said. “That’s the anxiety I have about who is going to step up and be that person to push us and lead us and step up and be a finisher.”
Sophomore forward Danielle McCray, KU’s leading returning scorer (10.5 ppg), might be the team’s next go-to player, but McCray, who will play more on the perimeter this season thanks to some frontcourt additions, said she didn’t consider herself or any particular teammate the best scoring option.
“There’s really not a go-to player on the team,” the Olathe East product said. “Everyone’s kind of even, everyone has the ability to score.”
When pressed to name the team’s best one-on-one threat, McCray set her guns to vague and stuck to them.
“There’s a lot to choose from right now,” she said. “Everyone has their good days, and everyone shows up at different times.”
That ambiguity may have been a form of modesty. Henrickson said she asked her players who they thought should have the ball at the end of the game, and most named either McCray or sophomore guard Sade Morris, who averaged only 6.4 ppg last season.
Henrickson said that Morris would not have been mentioned for that honor as a freshman, but now is playing with a different attitude and actually wants to be that player for her team.
“That’s just how much more aggressive she is than what she was last year,” Henrickson said.
Even if McCray, Morris or any other player fails to step up as the leading offensive threat, Henrickson said she liked fielding a team that’s balanced.
“It usually evens out in a wash and a lot of people touch (the ball), and I think those are the hardest teams to play,” she said. “Most coaches in the league, if you’ve got someone who can dominate, they’re going to take that person away from you.”
On the other hand … “If I had a kid who could score 30 a night, it’s not like I’d stop her,” Henrickson said.
The KU players like the balanced approach.
“This year we just want to run and push the ball, and whoever scores, scores,” senior forward Taylor McIntosh said. “We just want to put more points up this year.”
KU averaged only 60.5 ppg last season – last in the Big 12 – but McCray still thinks a balanced scoring attack can win games.
“I think it’s good just because, if that go-to player isn’t on that night, it’s always better to have more players than one player,” she said.
KU’s top returning scorers – McCray, Kelly Kohn, Taylor McIntosh, Morris, Marija Zinic and LaChelda Jacobs – could find help in the form of two freshmen forwards, 6-foot-2 Nicollette Smith and 6-foot-5 Krysten Boogaard, who Henrickson thinks can make an impact this season.
“The players are starting to realize if we throw it up to (Boogaard) she can go get it most of the time and finish around the rim,” Henrickson said.
Meanwhile, Smith will bring size and shooting touch to the KU attack.
“Nicollette, she’s a big girl who has a great shot,” McCray said. “She brings mismatches up for a lot of people just because she can step outside and shoot the three.”
If everything goes as planned, the Jayhawks might garner more attention the next time all the Big 12 teams convene in Kansas City, Mo. – for the Big 12 Championship in March.
“With us being able to mix those young kids in,” Henrickson said, “we have a chance to make an immediate impact.”
