Rather than letting the ball come to him, Booker went and got it. By the time he was tackled, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound brute had gained 22 yards and helped keep alive KU’s lone scoring drive of the game.

It was not the last time that afternoon that Booker made such a play. And that sort of attacking style figures to become a more regular part of the Kansas offense for the final seven games of the season.

“The kid can play ball,” junior offensive lineman Jordan Shelley-Smith said. “He’s prepared. He’s done everything the coaches said. Everybody that plays well, they don’t just show up on Saturday. They’ve prepared for it, they’ve done it, so it didn’t really surprise me or anybody. We all kind of knew that was the kind of guy he was.”

Included in that group is the KU coaches, who raved about Booker all preseason and waited patiently for him to round back into form after an injury kept him out of the first four games of the season.

Fully recovered from the broken collar bone that kept him out, Booker quickly has moved from not playing to first in line during drills at recent practices and listed with the first team offense on the depth chart. So excited were KU coach David Beaty and his assistants about Booker’s potential, he actually was listed on the depth chart during the season’s first few weeks ahead of several fully healthy wide outs.

“We always had thought, after a couple days of practice, ‘Man, he’s gonna play for us early,'” offensive coordinator Rob Likens said. “He kind of has it all. Booker’s one of those kids that has gained everybody’s respect since the day he stepped on campus just because of how hard he works.”

Booker’s rise goes beyond hard work, however. After all, busting his butt has become such a normal part of Booker’s existence that it does not even seem out of the ordinary any longer.

“When we were talking to his high school coaches, the thing that they always talked about was how they had several lift times every day in the summer and he made it to every single one of them,” Beaty said. “That’s really how he’s been here. He’s a tireless worker. He approaches the game like a pro and he takes care of his body in the training room and the weight room.”

The work he put in with machines, heart and free weights this offseason created the product seen on the field today. Not content to just get open, Booker remains physical all the way through the end of each play.

“He’s got really big strong hands,” Likens said. “And he tries to rip the ball out of the sky.”

Added Beaty: “He has some aggression in him when it comes to attacking the football. He has great hand-eye coordination. He controls his body pretty well.”

Like all KU freshmen this season, Booker is not available to the media, so he’ll have to continue to do his talking on the field. That’s a good thing, according to Likens, who said it already was clear that Booker would be a big part of the Kansas offense in the future.

“One of the things we noticed from him early, since recruiting, was that he was very passionate of becoming great,” Likens said. “And not just giving it lip service. After a while you can kind of tell between the guys that are ‘Coach, I’m gonna come there and start.’ And then you’ve got the guys who, when they say it, you go, ‘OK. I believe you.’ He was one of those.”

Injury update

A handful of injured Jayhawks are expected to remain sidelined this week, with quarterback Montell Cozart (shoulder), quarterback Deondre Ford (thumb), wide receiver Bobby Hartzog Jr. (knee) and defensive end Damani Mosby (elbow) all unlikely to play Saturday against Texas Tech.

In addition, sophomore defensive tackle Jacky Dezir, who left last week’s loss after tearing his MCL, and Joshua Stanford, who is dealing with a nagging hamstring injury, also are likely to sit out Saturday’s contest.

On the good news side of the injury front, Beaty said he was hopeful that senior receiver Tre’ Parmalee, junior cornerback Brandon Stewart and running back Ke’aun Kinner all would be closer to full speed this weekend.

New punter?

A new name popped up on KU’s depth chart this week, and, although Beaty said he would not be ready to play this week, his time on the field might be coming.

His name is Michael Valentine and he’s a freshman punter from nearby Blue Valley North High. Added to the roster as a walk-on after a couple of injuries freed up space, Beaty said he believed Valentine would be able to add to the competition at the position, which has been handled by Eric Kahn and Ruben Guzman.

“If I said there was an area of disappointment for me, it’s that area,” Beaty said of the team’s 34.1 yards-per-kick punting average in 30 tries. “We have not flipped the field from that punt game perspective and we’ve got to continue to get better. We put a lot of time into it. For us to put the amount of time into it and the production that we’re getting, you know, I think that says that we as coaches have got to look inside. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, hey, man, are we doing something wrong?”