Entering the 2009 college football season, the one thing that stood out with the Kansas University football team is that, well, there just weren’t any question marks.
The team was coming off its second straight bowl victory, had set numerous offensive records during the previous two-year stretch, and, with nearly every major skill-position player returning — highlighted by darkhorse Heisman candidate Todd Reesing and standout receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier — it was easy to understand why 2009 had been pegged by many as the year Kansas would notch its first outright Big 12 North title in school history.
“I hope (fans) are excited, because I’m excited,” said Meier, then a junior receiver, in the moments following the ’08 team’s Insight Bowl victory over Minnesota.
A year later, however, in the wake of a season-ending 41-39 loss to Missouri that dropped the Jayhawks to 5-7 (1-7 in the Big 12) for the year, about the only certainty with the 2010 team is uncertainty.
With the exception of backup running back Toben Opurum and receiver Bradley McDougald, the team doesn’t return a true game-changer on offense, assuming that Briscoe departs a year early for the NFL. The defense loses its top player in Darrell Stuckey — along with five other players who started at least five games this season — and, perhaps most importantly, it remains unclear whether the team’s embattled coach will be on the KU sideline next season.
Mark Mangino, the subject of an internal university investigation into his treatment of players, said following Saturday’s loss to Missouri that he expects to be the team’s coach next season, but the consensus around Lawrence is that it will take a Christmas miracle for the coach to keep his job after a two-week stretch in which multiple former players have come forward with allegations of the coach’s physical and mental abuse of players.
“We’ve got some shoes to fill,” said sophomore tight end Tim Biere, in what might be the understatement of the year.
No, things don’t figure to be quite as comfortable as they were a season ago.
In addition to a massive loss of production on both sides of the ball, next season’s schedule, while free of the Big 12 South powers (Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech) that were staples during the past two seasons, is far from a walk in the park.
In nonconference play, the Jayhawks will take on Georgia Tech, the nation’s No. 12 team at the moment, and travel to Southern Miss., a team Kansas only narrowly defeated in Lawrence this season.
Then again, as the utter collapse of the ’09 season clearly indicates, certainty — or the lack of it — doesn’t necessarily mean much.
The last time the Jayhawks failed to play in a bowl, for instance, they finished the following season 12-1 and beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, and there are reasons, too, to be encouraged heading into next fall — one of which is an offensive line that will return every starter.
“I hope everyone keeps the faith in the football team,” Reesing said Saturday, “because we’ve got a lot of good young guys.”
In the emotional moments following Saturday’s loss, Stuckey, a senior safety, gave a short speech in the locker room. It was a typical farewell speech, urging the team’s returning players to pour themselves into offseason workouts and make the most of their remaining time at Kansas.
“Hopefully, they’ll take that to heart,” senior cornerback Justin Thornton said. “Because we don’t want anybody to have to feel what we’ve gone though this year as seniors.”