Despite growing up just three hours apart, emerging as standouts in the ultra-competitive realm of Texas prep football and leading their neighboring collegiate programs to previously unseen heights, Chase Daniel and Todd Reesing have never actually spoken.
The quarterbacks of the Missouri and Kansas football teams share various ties. In 2004, then-senior Daniel was Texas’ Class 5A player of the year at Southlake Carrol High, while Reesing earned the honor in 4A as a junior at Austin’s Lake Travis High. From there, the two went on to play at rival Big 12 programs, each leading their teams into the top 5 of the Associated Press poll a season ago.
But even last season, when the two went head-to-head in Kansas City for a game with national championship implications, their paths didn’t cross.
“After last year’s game, I tried to find him and shake his hand, but it didn’t happen,” said Reesing, who, like Daniel, is quickly ploughing through the his school’s record books.
The lack of dialogue hasn’t kept either player from keeping tabs on the other’s exploits, however.
“He’s a warrior,” said Daniel. “He’s getting banged up a little bit this year, but he’s still out there, still firing the football, making plays outside the pocket and doing everything he can to get his team to win.”
Said Reesing: “I have a respect for anybody that can go out and play football and have a lot of success. He’s proven that he can make plays and he’s put up some pretty impressive numbers over his career. So if you don’t respect what he’s been able to do, then that’s just kind of stupidity.”
• • •
Mangino doesn’t envision a Snyder-like run: While the return of 69-year-old Kansas State head football coach Bill Snyder has shown that big-time college football features no age limit, at least one Big 12 coach is imposing one on himself.
Mangino said this week that, despite his love for coaching, he doesn’t see himself pacing a sideline deep into his twilight years.
“I enjoy it,” Mangino said Tuesday. “I love it. But I’m not going to do this when I’m 68, 69, 70, 75, 80 — God willing. There’s other things in this world that interest me, and I don’t see myself doing it that long. … I love the game, I love the association with the players. I’ve got a little bit of a competitive edge to me, so it kind of fills that void. But I just don’t see it. I just think later in life I probably will spend more time with grandchildren and doing some things that I didn’t get to do for 35, 40 years.”
