What caught my eye at Wednesday’s practice: Sept. 5

By Matt Tait     Sep 5, 2012

This 2012 file photo from football practice inside Anschutz Sports Pavilion shows the building on Kansas University's campus where President Barack Obama will give a speech, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

Wednesday’s Kansas University football practice was moved inside to Anschutz Sports Pavilion, which offered a little bit of relief from the heat, but mostly in the way of shielding the Jayhawks from the sun and not in overall temperature.

As thermostats outside continued to push the 100-degree mark, the temperature inside Anschutz, which basically functioned like a hot box, could not have been much lower than 90.

It’s not that KU coach **Charlie Weis** was afraid of a little heat, more that Weis likes to be ultra-prepared, and when your gametime conditions are expected to be in the mid-70s, as they are for this weekend’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Rice, it makes more sense to run your guys through practice in a cooler venue than to conduct a scorcher on the practice fields.

It should be noted that nobody confirmed that the move was because of the heat. That’s just my best guess as to why they changed venues today.

While the move inside made things a little more manageable in the temperature department, it also made it a lot louder. Not only were the pre-practice tunes blaring off the walls of the old fieldhouse, but it was so loud in there that coaches could only be seen yelling and not heard.

Check out what a quick learner Josh Ford has become, as he lines up behind starter Kale Pick during a receiving drill on Wednesday.

Here’s a quick look at what else caught my eye at Wednesday’s practice:

• Nowhere was that picture of a coach’s screaming being seen but not heard more evident than with the wide receivers and coach **Rob Ianello**. After a rather lackluster warm-up session in which his group ran through a couple of rounds of the gauntlet drill, Ianello quickly became irked by the effort and energy and immediately ordered a dozen or so up-downs. While I’m sure the KU receivers did not enjoy the punishment, it seemed to work as the individual drills that followed were more crisp and had a greater sense of urgency. Senior wideout **Kale Pick** also was visibly upset with his group during the ealry portion of practice and, being the leader and upperclassman he is, Pick continually barked at his teammates to pick it up.

• One positive thing I saw from the receivers on Wednesday came from No. 8, juco transfer **Josh Ford**, who made a name for himself on special teams last weekend and appears to have taken quite a bit of confidence from that performance into his position. Tuesday, Ianello said that those types of performances on special teams are noticed by position coaches and can go a long way toward upping your reps with your main position. He wasn’t lying. Ford ran some drills with the second unit on Wednesday, a clear indication that his stock is on the rise considerig he was not listed on KU’s latest depth chart.

• Finally, the Coach Weis song of the day was “Get Ready” by Bon Jovi.

PREV POST

What caught my eye at Tuesday's practice: Sept. 4

NEXT POST

41067What caught my eye at Wednesday’s practice: Sept. 5

Author Photo

Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.