All eyes — at least both of mine — at Tuesday’s practice were on Kansas University quarterback **Dayne Crist**, who, earlier in the day, told reporters that, after a Monday evening chat with KU coach Charlie Weis, he vowed to have more fun starting today.
It’s tough to see evidence of that during the portion of practice that we get to watch, but there were a few signs.
For the most part, we watched Crist go through warm-ups and then work with the rest of the quarterbacks during individual drills. During each, he bounced his head to the music and clowned around with teammates Jake Heaps, Michael Cummings, Turner Baty and Blake Jablonski.
It wasn’t the kind of banter that would make you say, “Whoa; where did the funny guy come from?” But it was enough to show that Crist, as he said he was, seemed a little looser than during the previous few weeks.
The only place it will really matter is Memorial Stadium on Saturday, when Crist and the Jayhawks try to bounce back from last week’s loss to Rice with a match-up against No. 16 TCU at 11 a.m. But Tuesday seemed like a good start.
Here’s a quick look at what else caught my eye at Tuesday’s practice:
• As promised by Weis earlier in the day, **Kale Pick**, **Lubbock Smith** and **Brandon Bourbon** were nowhere to be seen on the practice field. All three are nursing injuries they suffered against Rice and each was getting treatment during the early portion of practice. Weis said the injured trio was “day-to-day” and added that if they had to play today they probably would not go. We’ll keep an eye on their progress throughout the week.
• Freshman offensive lineman **Sean Connolly** spent the early portion of practice riding the exercise bike, but the good news there was that he was alone. No **Anthony McDonald**. No **Nick Sizemore**. Not only were both of those guys off the bikes, they also both were back on the depth chart, as Sizemore was listed second-string at the F position, behind **Trent Smiley**, and McDonald was listed second-string at Will linebacker behind **Huldon Tharp**. Weis said McDonald, in fact, was “ready to play.”
• Just a quick note regarding the tempo and tone of practice… I didn’t notice a whole lot of moping. Guys looked energized and seemed to be working just as hard as they had each of the other times we’d been out to practice. Might not mean much, but might also be a good sign. We’ll see.
• Finally, the Coach Weis song of the day was “Living Proof” by Bruce Springsteen.
