Mecham sleeping well
Ever wondered how a junior-college transfer quarterback sleeps during the few days before the first Big 12 start of his career?
Kansas junior Quinn Mecham, who will be thrust into a starting role Saturday at Iowa State, offered a glimpse into what it’s like.
“I’ve been getting a lot of reps, so I’ve been sleeping pretty good,” Mecham said after Wednesday’s practice.
So, has the Snow College transfer reached that REM stage of sleep where completions and touchdowns have danced in his head? Not exactly. But he has had his share of dreams.
“(None) that I can tell you guys,” he quipped.
When Mecham and the Jayhawks take the field at 1 p.m. Saturday in Ames, Iowa, the 6-foot-2, 207-pound righty from Provo, Utah, will become the third quarterback to start a game for the Jayhawks this fall. Asked what he was most looking forward to about his first start, Mecham repeatedly mentioned helping the Jayhawks snap their losing skid.
“You’re your own worst critic,” Mecham said. “I just want to go out and help the team. It’s a great opportunity. ”
Mecham said Wednesday the plan all along was for him to red-shirt this season. That all changed last week when starter Jordan Webb injured his shoulder before halftime and backup Kale Pick went down in the second half.
“That was the plan,” he said. “But, you know, I just stayed in the game and kept in the meetings, and I feel like I’m prepared.”
Mecham played the final few snaps of last week’s loss to Texas A&M, and KU coach Turner Gill said the juco transfer appears to be ready for Iowa State.
“He’s actually brought some energy to the team,” Gill said. “I think all of our guys are excited. They’ve rallied around him, and he’s stepped in and is ready to move this football team. That’s what you want from your quarterback. When he was called upon, he was ready to go, so it’s been a good thing.”
Because of a concussion, Pick has been ruled out for Saturday. Gill said Wednesday that Webb is doubtful for Saturday’s game, and starting defensive lineman Patrick Dorsey (concussion) also was doubtful and definitely would not start.
Thorson recognized
KU senior Brad Thorson, an offensive lineman from Mequon, Wis., was named a Big 12 Conference Fall Chick-Fil-A Community of Champions honoree on Wednesday.
Thorson, who already has graduated and is working on a master’s degree in economics, has been heavily involved in community-service projects throughout his time at Kansas.
During the fall, winter and spring terms, one student-athlete from each Big 12 institution receives the honor based on his or her performance in academics, community service, leadership and sportsmanship.
KU pumps in the noise
In preparation for Saturday’s game at Jake Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, Gill used loud speakers and simulated crowd noise during Wednesday’s practice.
Gill said it was the second time the Jayhawks have used the artificial sound this season, the first coming during the week of KU’s Friday night contest at Southern Miss.
Gill laments no timeout
Though he has shown throughout the course of the season that he’d rather error on the side of caution when it comes to calling timeouts, Kansas University coach Turner Gill said after Saturday’s 45-10 loss to Texas A&M there was a point in the game where he wished he would have called one.
Trailing 24-10 and driving inside A&M’s red zone, KU quarterback Jordan Webb threw an interception at the goal line after attempting to play through a shoulder injury which he suffered on the previous play. The pick was returned 83 yards to the KU 17, and three plays later A&M scored to open a 31-10 lead at the half.
“I saw he was a little bit hurt,” Gill said. “He’s a tough young man. He gets up and kind of shakes it off, and you kind of think the guy’s OK. (As) I look back at it, I probably should’ve taken a timeout to really know what was happening at that particular time. But you make decisions, and that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
The interception was the last play of the game for Webb, who sat out the final two quarters due to a shoulder injury.
Hutchinson LB commits
Rivals.com reported Saturday night that Hutch High’s Ben Heeney, a 6-1, 195-pound linebacker visiting KU on Saturday, chose to commit orally to the Jayhawks during the game.
Heeney, a three-star recruit, becomes the 16th player to commit to Gill’s first complete recruiting class. He is the third linebacker on that list.
Sands a fourth-down back?
Early in the third quarter, after a huge fourth-down sack from freshman Tyler Patmon, KU had a chance to crawl back into the game and was in A&M territory when a drive stalled after a failed fourth-down attempt.
The call, on fourth-and-one, was for red-shirt freshman Deshaun Sands to run the ball up the middle for the necessary yard. Instead, Sands never got past the line of scrimmage.
Asked after the game if it seemed odd to ask the 5-foot-7, 190-pound running back to convert in short yardage instead of giving the ball to starter Angus Quigley (6-1, 231) or backup James Sims (6-0, 206), Quigley did not second-guess his coaches.
“Of course I’d like to be in on fourth-and-one,” he said. “But I’m fully behind whatever the coaches think. I don’t have any place to question what goes on. I never have, and I’m not gonna start now.”
Laptad finally gets a sack
Senior defensive end Jake Laptad, KU’s sack leader during each of the past two seasons, finally broke through with his first sack of 2010 on Saturday.
In addition to being his first of the year, the sack pushed Laptad into fifth place on KU’s all-time list. With 17.5 sacks in his career, Laptad moved ahead of Dana Stubblefield and Nate Dwyer, who each had 17 in their careers.
This and that …
For the first time this season, the Jayhawks did not use their new inflatable tunnel when taking the field prior to kickoff. … KU also elected to let the yell leaders carry out the KU flags instead of asking a player to do it.
Biere bounces back
After playing one of the roughest games in the history of the program during last week’s loss to North Dakota State, Kansas University’s junior tight end Tim Biere bounced back in a big way during Saturday’s 28-25 victory against No. 15 Georgia Tech.
On the first play of the second quarter, with the Jayhawks driving, Biere caught a two-yard touchdown pass on a play-action toss from Jordan Webb that gave KU a 14-7 lead.
Of the reception, which Biere showed to the Memorial Stadium crowd with one hand after hauling it in, Biere said: “Last week was the worst game of my life. I don’t even know how to explain how I felt the first couple days. But I moved on, and the team picked me up and had my back. I knew I was going to get another opportunity, and I got a touchdown out of it. It felt great.”
Flagman takes a beating
For the second straight week, a member of the KU team carried the giant Jayhawk flag out of the tunnel and onto the field at the start of the game.
Last week, against North Dakota State, senior wide receiver Johnathan Wilson was the first to break in the new tradition. Saturday, against Georgia Tech, Olaitan Oguntodu led the Jayhawks out, though he did so against a much stiffer wind. Perhaps Oguntodu’s battle against the wind prepared him for what he was about to see on the field.
Oguntodu finished with a career-high seven tackles — fourth on the team — and one that he likely won’t soon forget. Late in the game, the senior safety popped Georgia Tech quarterback Joshua Nesbitt square in the chest. Both players went down, but Oguntodu stayed down and had to be helped off the field.
“It happened right in front of me,” junior linebacker Steven Johnson said. “When that happened, I was just like, ‘Wow, this guy’s out here laying it on the line.'”
Kale-Cat Offense?
KU sophomore Kale Pick played a handful of snaps at quarterback during Saturday’s victory. Pick, the starter against North Dakota State, was benched this week in favor of red-shirt freshman Webb but was still used under center on some rushing plays.
Asked if using Pick was his way of running a Wildcat type of offense, KU coach Turner Gill said: “If you want to use that term, yep. We just want to be able to do some things against the defense with his capabilities to throw or run. Obviously, he’s a quarterback and can do multiple things. He’s not just a running back, where every time he’s in he’s going to run the ball.”
Pick finished 0-for-1 through the air and added 12 rushing yards on three carries.
Patterson penalized for dive
KU junior Daymond Patterson was flagged for an excessive-celebration penalty after diving into the end zone to cap off his 32-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. Patterson, who said he remembered watching YouTube clips of former KU coach Mark Mangino ripping into former Jayhawk Raimond Pendleton after a similar penalty, said he was not trying to be a showboat.
“I got hit and spun around, and I felt like there was pursuit behind me, and I just dove and went into the end zone,” Patterson said. “They said nobody was close enough, and they threw a flag. The coaches just said, ‘Make sure you’re smart with it,’ and there’s a time and a place to correct what I did. We have plenty of meetings for stuff like that.”
Aldrich on hand for upset
Former Kansas University basketball standout Cole Aldrich was spotted in the press box for part of Saturday’s game.
New tunnel debuts
Kansas University’s football team added a new wrinkle to its pregame ritual Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Rather than hopping out of the Anderson Family Football Complex and onto the field like they’ve done in the past, the Jayhawks walked out of the locker room and huddled up in a giant tunnel that sat at the southwest corner of the field.
The tunnel, 30 feet long with two, 20-foot-tall Jayhawks at the mouth, housed the entire team, which then ran through the tunnel and into another season of college football season as smoke guided the way.
The introduction played on the large video board — which also made its gameday debut — also was new, as it no longer featured the Jayhawk plane soaring over the plains and into Memorial Stadium and instead rolled through some highlights of past KU greats, like the introduction video shown at KU men’s basketball games.
In that one, the video of Mario Chalmers hitting the three-point shot to tie Memphis in the 2008 national title game always draws the loudest cheer. In this one, it seems as if the early favorite to become the football equivalent is the replay of Todd Reesing’s game-winning touchdown pass to Kerry Meier that beat Missouri in 2008 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., in the snow.
What are you doing here?
Speaking of Reesing, the former KU quarterback was on hand to cheer on his alma mater. So, too, was former running back Jake Sharp. Both former captains were spotted in the press box before the game.
What’s the score?
The low scoring game was unusual for the Jayhawks in many ways. The three points scored by Kansas were the fewest since a 19-3 loss to Oklahoma on Oct. 15, 2005. The six points allowed also were the fewest given up by KU since a 6-3 loss to TCU on Sept. 22, 1962.
Streaks snapped
North Dakota State’s surprising victory represented KU’s first home loss to a nonconference opponent since the Jayhawks fell to Northwestern in the first game of 2003. The loss also snapped KU’s 20-game home winning streak in night games.
Harris records milestone
Kansas cornerback Chris Harris, a senior captain from Bixby, Okla., made his 30th career start, most among KU’s current players. Harris had four tackles — two solo — and was the only Jayhawk to record a sack, a huge, sweeping leg tackle on NDSU quarterback Jose Mohler late in the game that forced NDSU to punt and gave the ball back to the KU offense.
Old friends reunite
Kansas University coach Turner Gill and North Dakota State coach Craig Bohl both played their college ball at Nebraska. Bohl, who was a defensive back, played for the Huskers from 1977-79. Gill was an all-conference quarterback at NU from 1981-83. Gill and Bohl, who also coached together at Nebraska, reconnected before the game near midfield with a hug and lengthy chat while both teams warmed up.
Gill and Bohl visited briefly after the game, as well.
Two RBs stand out
After switching Toben Opurum to linebacker and watching Rell Lewis go down with a knee injury, Kansas University football coach Turner Gill was left with four running backs in his regular rotation.
Tuesday, at his first weekly news conference of the season, Gill revealed that two of those four were ahead of the game.
“I think for sure two guys are going to (get) the majority of (the carries), (Angus) Quigley and (Deshaun) Sands,” Gill said. “After that, we will just kind of see how it all goes. Whether the freshmen (Brandon Bourbon and James Sims) get in and play, we are still working through that this week.”
When naming the true freshmen who were likely candidates to play this season — Gill said defensive end Keba Agostinho definitely would play — Bourbon and Sims both made Gill’s list of “three to four guys” who could get reps during their first season on the sideline.
As for the top of the depth chart, Quigley, a sixth-year senior, remains the team’s No. 1 back and Sands, a red-shirt freshman, seems to be in position to get plenty of touches.
“They’re different backs, there’s no question about that,” Gill said. “I think we want to get a sense of feel for each game. We’re all still trying to feel our way out. We don’t know yet how guys will respond in a game.”
Toben on track
Speaking of Opurum, Gill also said the running-back-turned-linebacker was in line to log significant action during Saturday’s opener.
“I can’t sit here and say how many reps we are going to play him,” Gill said. “I know he probably isn’t going to play the majority of the game, but yes, he is planning on playing and we will go from there.”
Defensive coordinator Carl Torbush took that a step further, saying he expected Opurum to play between 10 and 20 snaps.
“We’ve tried to keep it as simple as we possibly can,” Torbush said. “We’re trying to teach alignment, assignment and technique, but he does have an outstanding nose for the football, he uses his hands very well, he’s a big guy that’s physical, he looks like a linebacker. In my mind there was no question that the day he moved over there he helped us get better at linebacker.”
Just for kicks
KU special teams coordinator Aaron Stamn confirmed Tuesday that walk-on kicker Ronny Doherty, a freshman from Klein, Texas, would handle kickoff duties in place of senior Jacob Branstetter for the Jayhawks in Saturday’s opener against North Dakota State.
“Ronny has a very, very strong leg,” Stamn said. “Jake’s done a real good job, too, but I think the best thing right now for us is having Ronny be our kickoff guy, because he can give us a good chance to get the ball deep. I think he can be an excellent, excellent kickoff guy.”
Doherty also will serve as the backup place kicker, behind Branstetter, and is listed as the second-string punter behind senior Alonso Rojas.
Movers and shakers
With a couple of minor changes to the depth chart being made public Tuesday — Quintin Woods and Kevin Young are now tied at the top of the defensive end spot opposite Jake Laptad and several second-stringers have moved ahead of the competition behind them — the Jayhawks are down to just a couple of spots in which players still are wondering if they’ll start Saturday.
“We’ll tell ’em here probably Thursday or Friday as far as officially who’s going to start in the game and then go forward,” Gill said. “We’ll let ’em know ahead of time, we’ll always try to do that.”
The most hotly-contested battles remain at the second defensive end spot and at cornerback, where junior Isiah Barfield is trying to hold off senior Calvin Rubles to start opposite senior Chris Harris.
Start time’s just fine
Asked Tuesday if he wished Saturday’s contest was scheduled to kick off earlier since it’s the first game of his KU career, Gill delivered a direct response.
“No. No. No,” he said. “I’ve got my team ready to play at 6:10. 6:10. Not 11:00.”
Atmosphere inspired
The announced attendance for Saturday’s spring game was 12,500 people, and many of those spent the moments leading up to the game tailgating. Although the outcome didn’t count in any kind of standings and was only loosely played during the hour and 40 minutes on the field, the atmosphere around the stadium was near that of what it would be on a Saturday in the fall.
In addition, KU senior Chris Harris and head coach Turner Gill led the crowd in a drug-free pledge at halftime. Harris helped the young people in the crowd through the pledge, and Gill performed a repeat-after-me version with the adults.
Although rain threatened the area for most of the day, the skies never broke open and the game was played under cloudy skies and temperatures around 60 degrees.
Tight ends more prevalent
The KU tight ends made a big impact during Saturday’s game in both the passing game and the running game. Tim Biere led the blue team with 56 receiving yards, and AJ Steward, although he made just one catch for eight yards, made several nice blocks in the running game, including one that broke running back Angus Quigley loose for a 25-yard gain on the longest run of the day.
“You could see out there, a lot of sets had two tight ends and one tight end, so we get used a lot more than we did last year,” Biere said. “Right off the bat, I think I caught more passes on that first day of practice than I did in about a week last year. Right away I knew that we would have a lot more of a role in the offense than we did last year.”
Defensive ends disruptive
They didn’t garner much mention from Gill during the four weeks of spring drills, but Saturday a couple of defensive ends had big games. Red-shirt freshman Kevin Young and senior Quintin Woods each recorded two sacks, and they combined to make six tackles.
A look at starting units
Though it’s still early and might not mean much when the 2010 season rolls around, here’s a look at Saturday’s starters from both sides of the ball.
Offense: OL Tanner Hawkinson; OL Brad Thorson; OL Jeremiah Hatch; OL Trevor Marrongelli; OL Jeff Spikes; QB Kale Pick; RB Angus Quigley; WR Bradley McDougald; WR Daymond Patterson; WR Johnathan Wilson and TE Tim Biere.
Defense: DL Travis Stephens; DL Richard Johnson Jr.; DL Kevin Young; DL Patrick Dorsey; LB Justin Springer; LB Jacoby Thomas; LB Steven Johnson; CB Chris Harris; CB Calvin Rubles; S Lubbock Smith; and S Phillip Strozier.
Speed on display
Although the Jayhawks only showed a little of their offensive playbook, it was clear that speed would be a big part of it. Slot receivers Daymond Patterson and D.J. Beshears combined to make nine catches — for 53 yards — and Gill said both have been impressive throughout the spring.
Draft excitement
With 1:11 to play in the first half, the Memorial Stadium public address announcer revealed to the crowd that former Jayhawks Darrell Stuckey and Kerry Meier had been selected in the 2010 NFL Draft. At the time, former receiver Dezmon Briscoe, a sixth-round pick of Cincinnati, also had been picked, but that announcement didn’t come until the next timeout when the press box was notified about the pick. Stuckey was picked in the fourth round by San Diego, and Meier was snagged in the fifth round by Atlanta.