One problem. Gill’s adrenaline raced so much and his voice boomed so loudly that stadium officials had to turn down the public-address system to contain Gill’s excitement.

For many of the 500 or so fans who came out, that was exactly what they were expecting to see.

“We’re season-ticket holders, but we hadn’t gotten the opportunity to see coach Gill yet,” said Emily Mulligan, of Lawrence, who took in the evening with her husband, Lou, and daughters Arbor, 5, and Prairie, 3. “We really just wanted to bring our girls up to see the stadium and see the players. Coach Gill was definitely charismatic. I like his enthusiasm and the fact that he’s very serious at the same time.”

As nearly the entire KU roster — injured players and all — lined the west side of the track to sign autographs for the fans who stuck around to the end, dozens of KU backers played catch or ran wild on the Memorial Stadium turf.

As usual, the spot occupied by the quarterback, sophomore Kale Pick, had one of the longest lines, as fans requested autographs from the newly-named starting QB.

One fan, Ashley Duke, 21, of Blue Springs, Mo., tried her hardest to squeeze nearly 90 silver signatures onto a blue KU football helmet. As she waited in line for her final autograph of the night — one from Gill, for which she saved a spot near the “U” in “KU” on the left side of the helmet — Duke boasted about the remaining space.

“I pretty much got all of them except for a few I missed because guys got up,” she said. “But I actually think there’s room for a couple more.”

Another fan, a football coach and teacher at Pioneer Ridge Middle School in Gardner, had the Jayhawks sign a team poster with the phrase, “Go Jags,” (Pioneer Ridge’s mascot) written above each name.

Another young Jayhawk fan walked away with an unexpected souvenir — a signed glove from red-shirt freshman running back Deshaun Sands. As the young man approached Sands and asked for his autograph, the KU tailback slipped off the glove and said, “I got to, I got to,” then signed the silver mitt with a black marker and handed it to the youngster, prompting smiles from both player and fan.

“It is great for our fans to come out here and show their dedication toward our football program,” Gill said. “(They) get a chance to meet all of the players, face to face, and all of our coaching staff. We need them every game — home or away — and we are thankful for them to come out here and show their support for the KU football program.”

The day was not entirely about the fans. In addition to dissecting a simulation of some of KU’s offense and special-teams sets, Gill shared with the media some of the team’s latest news.

Gill confirmed that running back Rell Lewis, a junior from Muskogee, Okla., would miss the 2010 season after suffering a knee injury during Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage.

“He damaged his knee, and it is a pretty serious situation there,” Gill said. “It is a sad day for us, and I feel sad for him, as he was a guy in the hunt as far as batting for a starting spot.”

As for how the injury to Lewis might impact sophomore Toben Opurum, last year’s leading rusher who was moved from running back to linebacker last week, Gill said Opurum would remain on the defensive side of the ball.

“Toben is still set at linebacker,” Gill said. “At this point in time we are going to keep him at the linebacker spot. We think he can help us in that situation. He is not prepared to play at this point, but we think by game time he will have an opportunity to help us.”

Gill also said that first-string fullback Steven Foster, a junior from Sedgwick High, would spend time as a backup defensive end, as well.

The Jayhawks have less than two weeks before their season opener — 6 p.m. Sept. 4 vs. North Dakota State — and Gill said starting today, the team would start looking ahead to Game 1 a little more.

“Now we are getting into game preparation,” Gill said.