I stay pretty true to posting only football stories, but long-time readers know that I'll sneak in the occasional hockey post. The season is over for KU hockey for 2008-2009, but if you ever get a chance to go out and check out the club it's a pretty good time. They sell beer and the Mizzou game in early September is usually packed. You can check out more on the team at their site: kuhockey.com (although their message board is currently down).
Joe Mortensen and Mike Rivera team up again / credit: annependleton.com
KU fans can meet a few football players today while helping out Harvesters. Joe Mortensen, Adrian Mayes and Mike Rivera will be on hand at The Other Place in downtown Overland Park today from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Fans that bring three cans of food for Harvesters will qualify for a door prize.
More details from the official KU site.
Photo: http://annependleton.com
I was in a heated debate last night with a pair of Ohio State fans at work. (Before any Buckeye fans try to correct me, until there is a second Ohio State University in the FBS, I am not going to put “the” in front of Ohio State. Deal with it.) We were discussing football recruiting, and more specifically, we were talking about Kansas OC Ed Warinner securing two commitments from Ohio prospects over the last two years for the Jayhawks.
I argued that KU has been trying to recruit the state of Ohio for several years and that the commitments of Josh Richardson (Class of 2008) and Bradley McDougald (Class of 2009) were the first steps to setting up and securing an Ohio-KU connection. My Buckeye counterparts were inclined to believe that 1) I am nuts and 2) it is impossible for any Big XII school to consistently sign quality talent from the heart of Big Ten country.
In the words of Billy Joel, “They may be right, I may be crazy.”
The only thing is, I am not so sure that I am.
I will be the first person to admit questioning whether or not KU should have spent so much time recruiting in Ohio. I felt that it was a bold move, but for all intents and purposes, utterly hopeless. I honestly thought that trying to recruit in the state of Ohio was a complete waste of time and money.
If KU had to fight a lost cause, I would rather have seen the fight take place in California or Florida. The talent in Ohio is good, but there is just more of it in those two states. I just figured that the law of large numbers might take effect if the Jayhawks case a wide enough net in the larger states.
Ed Warriner proved me wrong and has snagged two very talented prospects the last two years.
I am not deluded enough to think that Richardson and McDougald chose KU over Ohio State. They didn’t. It is unlikely that any Ohio kid will ever make that choice if Ohio State really wants them. Most Ohio kids that play football, grow up wanting to play for the Buckeyes. It is the same as most Kansas kids that play basketball grow up wanting to play for the Jayhawks.
That wasn’t even the point of my argument. My point is that Mark Mangino and his staff are in the process of setting up the channels needed to make KU attractive to those prospects that Ohio State isn’t sold on.
The fact remains, that Ohio State can only sign so prospects each year. Even if the Buckeye’s sign the Top 25 prospects from the state of Ohio every year, there are still 50 to 60 prospects in the state that are talented enough to play at the FBS level. Ohio State couldn’t sign all of the talent in the state, even if they wanted to.
There are still plenty of prospects in Ohio left over.
Kansas will never beat out the University of Texas for a 5-Star recruit from Texas. It’s never going to happen. That hasn’t stopped KU from recruiting competitively in Texas. In 2009, KU signed just as many Dallas Area Top 25 recruits as Texas and OU. Mark Mangino consistently finds recruiting gems in the Lonestar State.
There is no reason why Kansas can’t annually pluck a few talented prospects away from Ohio. All that Kansas needs is a linebacker here or a lineman there. It isn’t as if the Jayhawks will be building their entire recruiting class from the state of Ohio.
Sure, there are other Big Ten schools to compete with, but there is a big difference between the type of player recruited to play in the Big XII and those recruited to play in the Big Ten.
Even though there are a few teams in the Big Ten that run spread hybrids, it is still a conference dominated by the power run game. The Big Ten is a rough-and-tough, conservative, grind-it-out conference.
There is a reason that three of the most productive runners last season came from the Big Ten. In spite of the changes that are being made within the conference, the old adage of 3 yards and a cloud of dust still holds true.
The Big XII is about as close to a polar opposite as it gets. It is a conference dominated by the spread, where running the ball on 2nd and 3 is considered conservative. A 31-27 game is a defensive struggle. It is a wild, anything-goes conference.
Neither is better or worse than the other. They are just different. So are the types of players that the teams within those conferences recruit. A big, powerful running back is going to get more touches in the Big Ten than he will get in the Big XII. A tall, fast receiver is going to get more catches in the Big XII than he will get in the Big Ten.
If the Kansas coaching staff is successful in their effort to make KU more attractive to Ohio kids, it won’t be long before a mini-pipeline is in full effect. If the two Ohio prospects have moderate success for the Jayhawks, how long will it be before other Ohio kids start thinking about Lawrence as a possible destination? That may be exactly what the Jayhawks need to take them to the next level.
I fully expect the coaching staff to continue to hit Ohio heavily. The addition of Tom Sims to the coaching staff can only help. His experience in recruiting Big Ten country will be a great asset on the trail in upcoming years.
Already there has been a huge spike in the number of prospects from Ohio that are interested in Kansas for the Class of 2010. That is a positive sign that the coaching staff’s efforts are starting to pay off.
While I can’t start gloating yet, hopefully I will be able to in a few years. Then again, who knows, they may be right…I may be crazy.
THE TEXAS HANGOVER AGAIN (aka MANGINO-PRINCE II)
One week earlier, Wildcat fans were celebrating the Ron Prince stomp after the purple once again knocked off Texas. This time it happened in Austin and the #24 Cats were looking forward to boosting their ranking and re-claiming the glory days with a win over the 4-0 Jayhawks. It looked good early on as Todd Reesing threw an interception on the first drive. That was followed by Jordy Nelson smoking Aqib Talib for long run after a catch that went for a TD and a 7-0 KSU lead. Something strange happened in Manhattan though. The Jayhawks answered when Jake Sharp scored on a 20-yard run. It was the first KU touchdown in Manhattan since 1999.
There were more fireworks in the first half as the Cats took a 14-7 lead, but Aqib Talib scored on a short TD with 11 seconds left to tie it up again for halftime.
KU really asserted themselves in the second half, starting with the 28-yard screen pass that Dezmon Briscoe took to the house and into the pages of Sports Illustrated. However, the Cats kept battling and the KU attitude of "something bad is going to happen" was hanging in the minds of large contingent of the crimson and blue fans in the stands. It did when a screen pass to Dexton Fields bounced off his facemask and straight into the air deep in KU territory. KSU intercepted and several plays later the Cat's fooled KU with a Leon Patton to Deon Murphy 5-yard halfback TD pass for 24-21 lead.
Then, the legend took over. Todd Reesing immediately drove KU down the field and answered with a 30-yard slant pass TD to ... you guessed it, Dexton Fields. After a botched PAT, KU led 27-24.
There was more action to come as KU added another field goal, but they couldn't quite put the purple away until Talib intercepted Josh Freeman in the final minutes of the game. The Hawks won 30-24 and would end up with a #20 ranking in the AP Poll. As sometimes happens in early season rivalry matchups, one teams goes on to a good or great season and the other fades into obscurity. That really seemed to be the case in this one as KSU never seemed to recover from losing to KU in Manhattan for the first time since 1989. KU went on to make program history, but the KSU road win was the hump that the Jayhawks had to get over to become a program. Personally, I think that hump was more mental than physical. The rest of the year would prove it out -- the Jayhawks learned how to win in Manhattan.
PHOTO THAT SAYS IT ALL:
http://www2.kusports.com/photos/galleries/2007/oct/06/ku_vs_kstate/36291/
VIDEO LINKS:
6sports summary: http://www2.kusports.com/videos/2007/oct/07/15493/
QUOTES:
"We finally played a Top-25 team, on the road, and we got the win. What are they going to say now?"
--Aqib Talib"That was the kind of game, we would've gave away last year."
--Aqib Talib"I thought clearly (KU) was the best team we have played all year. I tried to say it very clearly to our team, to anybody that would listen, that this team had no weaknesses."
--Ron Prince"I told our players that this was the day. The time was right. Our program, our players are confident. They feel good about themselves. This 2007 team feels like they can win anywhere."
--Mark Mangino
More from the series: Mangino's Greatest Hits
DJ's Stories, Mangino's Greatest Hits | tagged 2007, Aqib Talib, Mark Mangino, football, ksu, ku | Print Article | Permalink Email Article WARINNER AND BLANEY
The big news last week was the promotion of two KU assistant coaches last week. Offensive coordinator Ed Warriner now has the title of associate head coach, while Brandon Blaney (tight ends and recruiting coordinator) added the new responsibility of assisting with the offensive line. Let's hope both of them received nice raises as well as they've both been getting the job done. We all know the instant success of Warinner, but don't forget to factor in Blaney's recruiting. He was the assistant recruiting coordinator from 2003-2005 before taking over the head job in 2006. Anyone following the Hawks is aware of the upward curve we've enjoyed in recruiting.
The Warinner move is interesting as well as it indicates that he is clearly Mark Mangino's top assistant. I still feel like Mangino has focused on building a legacy with this program and will complete his career at KU; however, it's always a good idea to have a succession plan in place.
RAMBO MOVING ON
There's no official report out yet, but a thread on the Gridiron board indicates that wide receiver Xavier Rambo will be transferring out of KU. Probably due to his unique name, I think a lot of Jayhawk fans had kept an eye on Rambo and were hoping to see him playing more last year, but sometimes these things just don't work out. All of the sudden KU has a lot of receivers on deck and you could hardly blame a young guy for wanting to move somewhere with a better chance for playing time. Here's a look at the KU wideouts:
ON THE ROSTER
10-Kerry Meier (SR) 6-3/220
80-Dezmon Briscoe (JR) 6-3/200
81-Jonathan Wilson (JR) 6-3/190
85-Roderick Harris, Jr. (JR or SO?) 6-2/200
09-Raimond Pendleton (SR) 5-11/190
89-Tertavian Ingram (JR) 6-0/195
18-Xavier Rambo (JR) 6-0/195
47-Matt Bouwie (JR) 5-11/170
27-Willie O'Quinn (SO) 6-0/190
19-Reece Petty (JR) 6-2/195
INCOMING
Bradley McDougald | 6-0/181/4.5 - ****
D.J. Beshears | 5-9/185 - ***
Erick McGriff | 6-4/190/4.6 - ***
Chris Omigie | 6-5/185 - ***
GRADUATING
88-Dexton Fields 6-0/210
13-Marcus Herford 6-3/210
02-Raymond Brown 6-3/205
04-Gary Green 5-9/175
37-Micah Brown 6-0/185
The Recycler | tagged ed warinner, ku football news, xavier rambo | Print Article | Permalink Email Article MANGINO-PRINCE I
You see the highlights above and remember that it was a 6-6 squad with some good memories. At times though, the 2006 season was a pretty severe test for Kansas football fans (@Toledo, @NU, A&M, OSU, @Baylor). We started over at quarterback after finally getting Jason Swanson up to speed in 2005 and we had to replace Mangino's first set of great linebackers along with ends Charlton Keith and Jermail Ashley. Charles Gordon also left for the NFL. It was a young squad and when you set the scene for the late-November home matchup with KSU, you have to remember that Ron Prince was bringing a bowl-bound 7-4 Wildcat squad to Lawrence fresh off a home win over #4 Texas. It was Captain Ron's first year and it would be KU's first look at Josh Freeman. KU's record stood at 5-5, so let's just say Wildcat confidence was pretty high.
It didn't go as planned for Josh Freeman though, as he ended up with three fumbles and three interceptions. On the Crimson and Blue side though, Jon Cornish rushed for a career-high 201 yards, two TDs and a ref knockdown as the Jayhawks came away with a 39-20 win. The Hawks scored 19 points in the fourth quarter with the help of a couple of Freeman turnovers. Anthony Webb intercepted a screen pass and took it 42 yards for a TD. Then Jeff Wheeler got a hold of Freeman and he coughed up the ball to Wayne Wilder. The big DT carried the ball 34 yards before little Leon Patton somehow willed Wilder out of bounds. No problem, Cornish scored on a 12-yard TD run the very next play.
The Hawks would get smoked by Mizzou 42-17 the following game at Columbia, but the KSU win was a growing up game for the young Jayhawks and a big tone setter for the 2007 season.
PHOTO THAT SAYS IT ALL:
http://www2.kusports.com/photos/galleries/2006/nov/18/ku_vs_kstate/23655/
VIDEO LINKS:
6sports summary: http://www2.kusports.com/videos/2006/nov/19/11329/
QUOTES:
"I was rooting for them. I wanted them to beat Texas so that would make us look even better - after they beat Texas and come and get served by us."
--Aqib Talib"I've never liked K-State."
--Jon Cornish"There was just something about the game plan that (assistant coach) Bill Young and the defensive staff put together. Everything clicked. When you looked at them on tape and you looked at what we were doing, I thought we really had a chance to play well."
--Mark Mangino"It helps the big picture of our program. That KU is now a team that you've got to reckon with in the North, in the conference, in the state of Kansas. That's the important thing."
--Mark Mangino
8 of 12 | More from Mangino's Greatest Hits
Or maybe your top five, since that one is pretty obvious. Hit comments to get in.
Here's a re-org plan that I haven't seen before:
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2009/2/9/743213/a-total-college-football-r
Looks like we come out okay. I guess a ten-team playoff works, though I think I prefer 12. Anyway, I'm in. Where do I sign?
Jake Sharp vs KSU / photo: annependleton.comJake Sharp
Okay, so I went a little overboard with six Cozzens Award winners for 2008. I guess that just shows how many players we have on this squad that are out there playing tough football. Mark Mangino is gettting through to these guys.
In the case of Jake Sharp, I still think he can be a better running back, but 866 yards in his first season as the feature back isn't too bad considering that we were training two new tackles. For me though, Jake Sharp sealed up a spot on this list based on the fact that he geared up and gave his best against Mizzou despite bruised ribs. We've all watched the game over and over and you can see that he is really hurting in the fourth quarter. Hardcore.
The Mizzou game might be the example, but really his toughness has been on display his entire career and I really liked the way he kept fighting this season despite some real struggles with the running game in the first half of the year. With maybe a few more guys helping out in and solid tackle play, I'd say that relentless attittude should mean Sharp will put up big numbers in 2009.
Cozzen's Award Winners--The Complete List:
1997 Ron Warner
1998 Patrick Brown
1999 Carl Nesmith, Chad Coellner
2001 Algie Atkinson
2002 Marcus Rodgers
2003 Bill Whittemore, Gabe Toomey
2004 Charles Gordon, Nick Reid, John Randle
2005 Charlton Keith, Jon Cornish, Banks Floodman, Mark Simmons
2006 Jon Cornish
2007 Todd Reesing, Anthony Collins, James McClinton, Brandon McAnderson, Aqib Talib
2008 Kerry Meier, Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe, Darrell Stuckey, James Holt, Jake Sharp
Awards Schedule
Tuesday -- Part I: Play of the Year
Wednesday -- Part II: Wes Welker Award
Thursday -- Part III: Blog Awards
Friday -- Part IV: Monte Cozzens Award
Photo Credit: annependleton.com
James Holt
As we kicked off the final season of Mangino's Linebackers 2.0, I'm not sure anyone envisioned that James Holt would become the star of the trio. Injuries to both Mike Rivera and Joe Mortenson meant that Holt had to step up and by the end of the season it seemed like James was all over the field, snuffing out opponent attempts to run wide. Throw in the fact that midway through the season he filled a critical need when he started lining up as a defensive end in passing situations. Not only did he collect 10 sacks, he had an explosiveness from the edge that did just enough to disrupt precision passing attacks.
The other thing I find interesting about Holt is that he just quietly dominated. He always seemed to be in the background on this defense, but there he was -- always making tackles. Not a lot flash, just make the play and move onto the next one. Sort of the exact definition of a Cozzens Award winner.
Cozzen's Award Winners--The Complete List:
1997 Ron Warner
1998 Patrick Brown
1999 Carl Nesmith, Chad Coellner
2001 Algie Atkinson
2002 Marcus Rodgers
2003 Bill Whittemore, Gabe Toomey
2004 Charles Gordon, Nick Reid, John Randle
2005 Charlton Keith, Jon Cornish, Banks Floodman, Mark Simmons
2006 Jon Cornish
2007 Todd Reesing, Anthony Collins, James McClinton, Brandon McAnderson, Aqib Talib
2008 Kerry Meier, Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe, Darrell Stuckey, James Holt, ???
Awards Schedule
Tuesday -- Part I: Play of the Year
Wednesday -- Part II: Wes Welker Award
Thursday -- Part III: Blog Awards
Friday -- Part IV: Monte Cozzens Award
Photo Credit: annependleton.com
Darrell Stuckey
Darrell Stuckey was definitely the first player to earn his Cozzens Award this year. He was also the second player. Everything you need to know about Darrell as a football player you saw when he ran down Phillip Livas in the Louisiana Tech game to the deny the speedster a long touchdown run. In case you had spilled your Coke and missed the play or something, he backed it up on the next play by exploding through the line of scrimmage to knock Tech's running back down for a loss. It forced a field goal that was missed and the KU 'D' preserved a shutout.
Pride, talent, hard work and a desire to win. Darrell gave it his all this year. That's the kind of thing you love to see. For young football players, I think it's hard to have the perspective that your college career is really a fleeting moment. Everybody puts a different level of commitment into the game. You've got classes and maybe a social life. You can do the required weightlifting and training. Work hard in practice. But how many players are going to that next level? You know, the Lance Armstrong level. Treating your body as an engine and just taking one season to run perfect and pure. And you're doing it not to get to the NFL, but just to see how good you can play, to leave nothing to chance, to look back and say I truly gave it everything. I think Darrell Stuckey probably feels comfortable in that category.
The Tech play was really just a slice. Darrell did it all year. It's not like he didn't ever get beat or miss a tackle, but he played hard every down and then it really came together in Kansas City as he personally tormented Chase Daniel for three hours. The tomahawk chop and recovery, plus the two interceptions. What more can you say? If you want to know what it means to be a Jayhawk football player, watch a highlight video of Darrell Stuckey.
Cozzens Award Winners--The Complete List:
1997 Ron Warner
1998 Patrick Brown
1999 Carl Nesmith, Chad Coellner
2001 Algie Atkinson
2002 Marcus Rodgers
2003 Bill Whittemore, Gabe Toomey
2004 Charles Gordon, Nick Reid, John Randle
2005 Charlton Keith, Jon Cornish, Banks Floodman, Mark Simmons
2006 Jon Cornish
2007 Todd Reesing, Anthony Collins, James McClinton, Brandon McAnderson, Aqib Talib
2008 Kerry Meier, Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe, Darrell Stuckey, ???, ???
Awards Schedule
Part I: Play of the Year
Part II: Wes Welker Award
Part III: Blog Awards
Part IV: Monte Cozzens Award
Photo Credit: annependleton.com
