John Young• A turn for the better: KU loses again, but shows gain
Kansas University offensive lineman Jeremiah Hatch left the game late in the first quarter following an apparent back injury.
The senior was assisted by several KU trainers before being strapped into a stretcher and lifted onto a cart.
Play was delayed nine minutes to attend to Hatch, who was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for evaluation.
Hatch returned to the KU sideline in street clothes during the fourth quarter.
“He’s fine. He’s now able to move all his limbs and everything,” KU coach Turner Gill said. “They still want to evaluate him in the next 24 hours and kind of see what happens here in the next few days. But I’m glad to see that he is OK, as far as able to move his limbs, because initially, he was not able to move anything.”
The Oklahoma game was Hatch’s 41st start at KU.
Following the injury, KU sophomore Riley Spencer took over at left tackle, while Jeff Spikes shifted from left tackle to left guard and Trevor Marrongelli moved from left guard to center.
Boxer Ortiz talks
to KU football team
Professional boxer Victor Ortiz spoke to the KU football team Friday right after a team meal. His message was a familiar one: Believe.
“He just talked about how he was an underdog in many situations, and he came out on top,” KU cornerback Tyler Patmon said, “how nobody believed in him, but he knew he believed in himself. So it was a great message for this game.”
Ortiz was already in town Friday as a guest performer at Late Night in the Phog.
Opurum gets work on special teams
Toben Opurum played on special teams for the first time all year.
“We’ve got guys that weren’t able to go, so they stuck me in there,” Opurum said.
“You’ve always got to prepare like a starter, no matter if that’s on offense, defense or special teams, so I was able to step in there and do a pretty good job with that.”
Opurum said that KU special-teams coach Aaron Stamn suggested the idea to him.
The junior — who had been working with the punt team since the spring — recorded a tackle on an OU punt return in the first quarter.
“They didn’t really block me, so I had a free run down the field,” Opurum said. “You’ve just got to attack the ball and attack the ball carrier.”
This and that …
KU running back Darrian Miller’s 66 rushing yards were a career high. His previous best was 63 rushing yards against McNeese State in the season opener. … For the second game in a row, the Jayhawks lost the opening coin toss. Oklahoma chose to receive … Temperature at kickoff was 68 degrees, under clear skies with winds out of the south at 9 mph.
Juco cornerback not ready to sign with KU
Dave Clark, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound cornerback from Independence Community College, who had orally committed to Kansas University, has told Rivals.com he will not sign a letter of intent today on juco signing day.
Clark said he had recently heard from Mississippi, Arkansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma State and might visit one of those schools.
He previously had Kansas State and Tennessee on his list.
Clark told Rivals.com that he felt better about the situation at KU after speaking with new KU coach Turner Gill late Tuesday night.
Clark, who is from Louisiana, missed all of the 2009 season with a torn ACL.
He told Rivals.com his rehab is going well and hopes to be cleared to play when spring practices start in March.
Seniors to attend radio show, sign autographs
Kansas University’s quarterback club will meet from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Buffalo Wild Wings. KU senior football players Kerry Meier, Todd Reesing, Jake Sharp and Stuckey will attend the Rock Chalk Sports Talk Show from 6 to 7 p.m., with an autograph session to follow from 7 to 8 p.m.
KU defense turns grimace to grin
Sure enough, Meier’s WR pass works
Receivers make history
In combining for 24 catches and 314 yards, Kansas University standout receivers Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe made life miserable for a Minnesota secondary not accustomed to the explosiveness of a Big 12 offense.
They also made history.
For the first time since the program’s inception, the Jayhawks had two receivers each reach 90 receptions and surpass 1,000 yards in receiving. Meier finished the year with 97 receptions, 1,045 yards and eight scores; Briscoe added 92, 1,407 and 15.
Before this season, no KU player had recorded more than 70 receptions in a single season — previous receptions leader Richard Estell finished with 70 in 1985 — and the Jayhawks never had more than one player reach the 1,000-yard plateau.
Loss of Thornton felt early
When it came to light that Kansas cornerback Justin Thornton would miss Wednesday’s Insight Bowl for disciplinary reasons, it figured to be a significant setback to coach Mark Mangino’s team.
And for a good stretch of the Wednesday night’s game, it was.
On consecutive drives in the first quarter, replacement Kendrick Harper, a senior, was beaten on a 75-yard wide-receiver pass to Eric Decker and later a 29-yard reception by Brandon Greene. Both drives resulted in Minnesota scores and allowed the Gophers to take an early 14-7 lead.
Later, however, Harper provided a bit of redemption, helping to keep UM running back Shady Salamon out of the end zone on third-and-goal from the one. The drive resulted in a turnover on downs.
Sharp overcomes flu
Despite missing multiple days of practice this week because of the flu, Kansas running back Jake Sharp recovered enough to rush 16 times for 64 yards and a touchdown against the Gophers on Wednesday.
Sharp finished his first season as the team’s primary back with a career-high 860 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Stuckey’s big day
Perhaps still smarting from last year’s Border War outcome — during which Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel completed 40 of 49 passes on the Kansas University secondary — Jayhawks junior safety Darrell Stuckey took it upon himself Saturday to ruin Daniel’s afternoon almost single-handedly.
Stuckey, a Kansas City, Kan., native, finished with a team-high six tackles, intercepted two Daniel passes and forced and recovered a fumble by the former Heisman finalist to help Kansas top the Tigers, 40-37, for the first time in three years.
“Stuckey played an amazing game,” said KU cornerback Justin Thornton, reciting his teammate’s stat line to a handful of reporters. “All (that) in the same game, so that must have been great for him.”
Tigers bitten by injury bug
In addition to the sizable welt left on its collective ego, the Missouri football team also left Kansas City on Saturday with some tangible bumps and bruises.
Defensive back Castine Bridges left midway through due to a right knee injury, while All-American candidate Jeremy Maclin, a receiver, had to be helped from the field after making a catch early in the fourth quarter. Maclin, who finished the game with 123 yards and a touchdown receiving, was able to return, but saw limited action down the stretch.
Standout tight end Chase Coffman, meanwhile, was used sparingly, sitting out for significant stretches at a time, but still managed six catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns.
Reesing breaks own record
Reesing’s school record for passing yards in a season didn’t prove too terribly durable.
A year after throwing for a Kansas-best 3,486 yards, the junior quarterback topped his own mark Saturday, throwing for 375 yards to give him 3,575 for the season.
In addition, he broke his own school records for completions (302), attempts (460) and total offense in a season (3,761).
