The state of Arizona is becoming more and more of a second home for the Kansas football team.
In one sense the transition is quite purposeful, as KU’s coaches — particularly co-defensive coordinator Jordan Peterson and even head coach Lance Leipold — are rapidly becoming better acquainted with the region as they build a pipeline there from scratch, and four incoming Jayhawks in the class of 2024 call the Valley of the Sun home.
In another sense KU’s familiarity with the Grand Canyon State will be somewhat less voluntary, Following this winter’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl, the expansion of the Big 12 Conference means the Jayhawks will travel to Tempe to face Arizona State and Tucson to tackle Arizona in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
But before Arizona officially becomes Big 12 country, KU still has players who have never been to the state, like senior tight end Mason Fairchild, an Andale native. He said he’s heard good things from teammates who have already taken part in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl; defensive linemen Austin Booker and the since-departed Gage Keys were on a Minnesota team that won it in 2021.
Head coach Lance Leipold said that when you get assigned to a bowl game, if you can’t go where players are from, the “1A” option, you want to go “1B,” “places where young men have maybe never been or may never get back to maybe in their life.”
That’s part of why, as he put it, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl “was at the top of the list.” He said it takes place in a “beautiful area.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Fairchild said. “Especially in December, getting to play in some warm weather? I mean, come on now.” Linebacker Rich Miller, likewise, said that as he had considered possible bowls in Houston; Orlando, Florida; and Phoenix, he thought, “Those all seem warm.” Miller said he has previously been to Arizona for the Super Bowl.
Leipold, for his part, has some prior experience with this particular bowl game and its region. Back when it was the Insight.com Bowl (not yet just Insight) and took place in Tucson, he took his wife Kelly in 1999, shortly after they got married. They then went and saw the Rose and Fiesta bowls for good measure.
“My wife still reminds me of that all the time, what a romantic I am, that I take her to a bunch of bowl games,” Leipold said.
The timing of this year’s bowl game just after Christmas makes it rather awkward for some players. Running back Devin Neal is finding a way to make it work.
“My family, they rented an Airbnb down there,” he said. “We’re going to cook and do whatever. I’m not missing Christmas without my parents. So that’s just how tight we are, we’re going to get it rocking down in Phoenix, however it goes.”
Miller is eager to go forth and explore.
“I’m a big foodie,” he said. “If people want me to try some food somewhere let me know.”
Well, Rich, since you asked…
Henry in the Huddle: Special Bowl Edition (that has nothing to do with sports)
I lived in Arizona for a year not all that long ago. And not just in Arizona, but in downtown Phoenix, about a mile away from where this bowl game takes place at Chase Field.
That’s one advantage of this bowl over some of the other possibilities KU could have experienced: Beyond the weather, it takes place in the middle of a bustling city. Nothing against the Texas Bowl and its plethora of entertainment options, but take a look at where NRG Stadium is in the greater Houston area. It’s a nine-mile drive from the city center. If you go to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, being near Chase Field contrastingly puts you in the epicenter of one of the country’s highest-populated and most diverse metropolitan areas.
Now, I did not exactly have the most thrilling possible Phoenix experience because I was in the city 1) attending graduate school and 2) doing so during an infelicitous mid-pandemic time period. When I was outside it was usually to attend class or cover high school baseball.
Even so, I still feel sufficiently qualified to make a few recommendations from the limited experience I accrued.
Briefly: downtown, walk around the Japanese Friendship Garden, eat at The Churchill Food Hall, hang out on Roosevelt Row, peruse the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market, shop at Arizona Center or CityScape, check out the various museums. And you might as well check out the bizarre “Her Secret Is Patience” public art sculpture that I had to look at every day for a year.
For the self-described foodies like Miller out there, here are a few random rapid-fire selections from around Phoenix: Abyssinia, Barrio Café, Churn, Cornish Pasty Co., El Norteño, Fry Bread House, Green New American Vegetarian, Pizzeria Bianco. In the rest of the valley, you’re on your own. (Except for my two random Peoria picks: The Rec and, if it ever reopens, Azuquita.) Enjoy!
AP Photo/Matt York
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