If you’re here, you officially are a passionate KU football fan. Congratulations.I’m cleaning out the notebook from last week’s spring press conference, now that the quotes are getting old. Here’s a few highlights that haven’t slipped out of there yet, plus some other news. I have a story in the works for the paper later this week, too. Trust me, we haven’t forgotten about you football nuts, even as the NCAA Tournament gets going in hoops:**- Defensive end John Larson,** probably the smartest guy on the team, can feel the young athletic thoroughbreds breathing down his neck at the defensive end position. Larson and **Russell Brorsen** presumably are still the starters at that position. But defensive end featured a lot of rotating parts, including younger guys like **Max Onyegbule**, **Jake Laptad** and **Jeff Wheeler**, who can [really turn it on.][1]”Competition is what drives us to be better,” Larson said. “Jake and Max are definitely great players. They gave us a lot of rest last year and good reps in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking for a starting spot. That’s the way I was.”It will stay an intense battle through the spring, and the end result might not be any different than 2007, when Brorsen and Larson started but all played plenty.But it won’t be for a lack of trying by the young guns looking for more reps.”They’re hungry and looking to start,” Larson said, “but I wouldn’t be much of a starter if I was just looking to give it to them.”**- Kansas released its data** concerning Academic Progress Rate on Monday, and it reflected what I had heard [about six weeks ago][2]: KU football lost two scholarships due to an unsatisfactory APR score.It’s a complicated process that I will get into more in Tuesday’s Journal-World. But Kansas already has appealed the penalties and already lost the appeal. So that 20-person signing class last month will indeed stay at 20.**- Saw former offensive tackle Anthony Collins** at the Big 12 tournament championship on Sunday at the Sprint Center. My colleague Ryan Greene went and spoke to him briefly during halftime. He said he felt he did good at the NFL Combine and KU’s Pro Day and is back in Lawrence awaiting invitations to go do interviews with different teams in the next month.”I’m just loving it right now,” Collins said.**- As for spring practices**, the team worked out in pads on Saturday before scattering across the country for spring break. The next practice will be Monday, March 24.That’s all I got. Sawin’ Wood will transform into a basketball blog while I’m on the road, but I hope to have football stories and information to give to you occasionally between now and April 12. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2007/aug/22/keegan_wheeler_can_turn_it/ [2]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2008/feb/07/twenty_new_players_sign_jayhawks/?football