Sure, Harwell wants the ball. He knows where he can take it and the team when he gets it. He also knows adding pressure to the guy not getting him the ball would only make it worse.

Sophomore Montell Cozart, so much closer to the front of the quarterback assembly line than the end, hasn’t yet figured out how to get the ball to Harwell, an entirely new experience for the senior transfer who broke more records at Miami of Ohio than Chuck Norris broke jaws on “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

Harwell isn’t panicking about that. He knows he cemented his reputation as a bona fide NFL prospect before stepping foot on KU’s campus, so he remains calm on the topic of getting ignored. And he continues to share his football wisdom with fellow receivers and the young quarterback, whom he refers to as “Telly.” The Telly-Harwell reception has happened just nine times for 66 yards, or an average game total of three catches for 22 yards. At Miami, which is 0-16 since Harwell’s departure and on a 20-game losing streak, he averaged 6.7 catches and 93.1 yards in 34 games.

Harwell had 215 receiving yards in a game vs. Central Michigan playing for Miami, 11 yards against the same school playing for Kansas.

“As long as my guys get the ball, I’m fine with that,” Harwell said. “Play the next play. If I get the ball, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t.

He acknowledged he would not have reacted in the same way in younger days.

“I’d probably be more arrogant and upset,” he said.

Harwell expressed faith in his quarterback’s future.

“He hasn’t reached his peak yet,” Harwell said of Cozart. “I feel like the most improvement comes during the summer, so he has two more summers left here. I just feel like he’ll be a great quarterback.”

Why?

“He’s athletic,” Harwell said. “He can throw the ball, and he can run really well. Once he’s able to read those defenses like quarterbacks in the NFL, he’ll definitely tear the Big 12 up.”

Cozart is fast, but having speed and using it in a game are two different things.

“We see it in practice, conditioning,” Harwell said. “He can run the ball. I always tell him, ‘If anything breaks down, use your legs.’ He doesn’t want to use his legs if he can pass. He’s an unselfish guy, so he doesn’t want to take all the glory. That’s why he doesn’t use his legs much.”

Unselfish or is it a fear thing?

“No, not at all,” Harwell said. “That hit he took against Duke is probably the hardest he’ll be hit all year, so I don’t think that he’s scared to run.”

Whatever the reason, Cozart isn’t taking advantage of running opportunities when they present themselves, and more than the coaches let him know that.

“I tell him every day, ‘If things break down, use your legs, use your legs.’ And he’s like, ‘All right, all right.’ I feel like he’s a little passive,” Harwell said. “He wants to be a quarterback first. He doesn’t want to be a running back.”

Harwell wants to be a prolific pass-catcher again, but he’s not griping about it.

“Nick is obviously a captain picked by his teammates for a reason, because he has a great attitude and is a great leader,” offensive coordinator John Reagan said. “I would like to get Nick the ball a lot more, too. That is always on our agenda.”

Once Harwell catches it, nobody has to tell him to run with it.