Name dropping…

By Staff     Oct 30, 2007

First off, Sawin’ Wood would like to thank KU football coach Mark Mangino. Even after a stressful 19-11 victory over Texas A&M at Kyle Skyscraper last week, Mangino took the time to tell ESPN sideline reporter Stacey Dales, somewhat cryptically, to come read this blog.I think the quote was something like “We’ve gotta keep sawin’ wood.”It was excellent publicity, though the putrid page views for this blog won’t tell you that. More than that, though, that interview is one of the first times he’s used the phrase since KU was completely mediocre from 2002-04. You may not read too much into that, but you should.Things haven’t changed at Kansas. At all. Many players said that Mangino is that exact same at 8-0 as he was a year ago at 3-5. The main differences is media requests coming out of the woodwork and some of the players being high-fived on campus (as Brandon McAnderson said, quarterback Todd Reesing is “probably like one of the Beatles now.”On Tuesday, Mangino was asked about the “Sawin’ Wood” battle cry. He said he had no plan to make it a token phrase in Lawrence, but “I thought it kind of fit the task here at Kansas.”And, of course, I’m sure he was all about giving his favorite blogger a little extra pub. We could sure use it.Anyway, on to the nuts and bolts from Tuesday’s press conference:**- KU cornerback Kendrick Harper**, along with Aqib Talib, was named KU’s defensive player of the game for his phenomenal showing against Texas A&M. On top of all that, Harper said he’s still not 100 percent recovered from a preseason injury to his hand or wrist, one that must have been pretty serious. “I’m making it. I’m just taking it day by day and still rehabbing and stuff,” he said.It obviously hasn’t tempered his aggression. He put some serious hits on a few Aggies last week.**- As you’d expect, KU is getting** a lot more media attention with its 8-0 start. Before, sports-information guru Mike Strauss would compile an outside request list that totaled three our four outlets. Now, it’s two pages long.**- Mangino was asked** specifically about Todd Reesing being up for the Davey O’Brien Award and if that means KU will start a campaign to get the fans voting (at DaveyOBrien.com). He said they will probably market it a little, but “you go win the awards. You don’t campaign for them.”As of 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Reesing is leading the fan voting. **- Besides Harper and Talib** splitting defensive honors, Brandon McAnderson (big surprise) won offensive player of the week while Dakota Lewis was cited for special teams. Lawrence High grad and good guy Ian Handshy was defensive scout team player of the week.**- Monday’s news** had Texas’ Jamaal Charles (offense), Colorado’s Terrence Wheatley (defense) and Texas’ Ryan Bailey (special teams) winning the Big 12 player-of-the-week honors. Take Charles’s 200-plus rushing effort out in a come-from-behind win, and McAnderson wins unanimously. As it was, I voted for all three that eventually won.

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26086Name dropping…