August - Kansas City Sports & Fitness Magazine

www.kcsportspaper.com KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS AUGUST 2011 9
BIG 12| FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
Impossible to replace? Not really for the
Wildcats.
Bryce Brown is a transfer from
Tennessee, where he rushed for 460 yards
as a true freshman in 2009. He was considered
the top high school running back
recruit in the nation that year.
After sitting out a year with the transfer
rule, Brown was named first-team preseason
Big 12. Expect him to rush for more
than 1,000 yards, so Thomas won’t be
sorely missed.
He will running being a line that returns
five starters.
Another Brown, Bryce’s twin Arthur, a
middle linebacker, who transferred from
Miami (Fla.), could also make an immediate
impact on a defense that was porous
last season. Brown, who was a top 10
national recruit, recorded 14 tackles in the
spring game and has been chosen to the
Nagurski and Butkus watch lists. The
Brown brothers went to high school in
Wichita and are coming back to the
Sunflower State.
The secondary is the defensive strength
with the return of senior cornerback
David Garrett, senior free safety Tysyn
Hartman and sophomore strong safety
Ty Zimerman.
Coach Bill Snyder has brought in slew
of junior
college
transfers
that could
transform
the
Wildcats
K-State Coach Bill Snyder
into a
top-tier
Big 12 team. They include quarterback
Justin Tuggle, 337-pound offensive lineman
Shaun Simon, defensive back Allen
Chapman and defensive lineman Meshak
Williams.
The quarterback position is muddled,
although Snyder said returning junior
Collin Klein is showing leadership qualities
and understands the offense. Tuggle,
a highly-regarded quarterback recruit from
Blinn Juco in Texas, and senior Sammuel
Lamur are in the picture. There is no Josh
Freeman in this group. Klein could get the
nod at the start of the season, but if he
underachieves could lose the job.
“He’s made tremendous strides in
regards to his leadership of our football
team,” Snyder said of Klein. “That’s
extremely important. He’s made tremendous
strides in his understanding. He’s a
very intelligent young guy and grasps
concepts well. He’s just grown and grown
and grown in his understanding of the
offense and how to have dominant control
of our offense.”
Klein split time with Carson Coffman,
who was graduated, last year. Klein’s
throwing ability is a question. He rushed
for 424 yards and six touchdowns last
year, but threw for only 138 yards and
one touchdown. He was run first, pass as
last resort.
Snyder also must confront a depth problem.
The Wildcats enter the season with
69 scholarship players, 16 less than the
NCAA limit.
“We’re still struggling with the scholarship
count,” Snyder said. “That makes it
difficult to create the depth you want.”
The Wildcats finished last season 7-5,
losing 36-34 to Syracuse in the inaugural
Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. While it
was a credible season, it was certainly not
one to salute. Just ask Adrian Hilburn.
KANSAS
How many days before the first tipoff,
not kickoff, is the question in Lawrence.
The Jayhawks were
bad last year, Turner
Gill’s first season as the
Kansas head coach after
turning around a sagging
Buffalo program.
The Jayhawks were near the top of the
college football world after the 2007 season,
when they won 12 games and capped
it off with an Orange Bowl victory.
Last season the Jayhawks won one Big
12 game - a miracle comeback 52-45 decision
over Colorado - and were 3-9 overall.
The losses included a 6-3 loss at home to
North Dakota State to start the season, a
48-point defeat at Baylor and a 52-point
loss to Kansas State.
The preseason polls have Kansas a consensus
pick to finish in the basement.
Kansas should be better, but is a year or
two away from competing for a first-division
finish in the Big 12. Gill redshirted
15 players last year and has an excellent
recruiting class with 25 newcomers.
“We’re excited and ready to move forward
in a great way.” Gill said.
The Jayhawks ranked last in scoring in
the Big 12 in 2010, averaging 17.1 points a
game. They were also last in rushing and
total offense.
Jordan Webb and Quinn Mecham,
returning quarterbacks, combined to throw
for 11 touchdowns last season, but had
13 intercepted.
Gill keeps saying “we’re here to win a
championship,” but as a former Nebraska
quarterback
he
knows the
Jayhawks
have to
get much
better at
Kansas Coach Turner Gill
quarterback
to
be considered championship caliber.
Bowl-eligible is a goal this year, but
winning six games might be a stretch.
“If you’re talking in reality, I’d be disappointed
if we don’t get this done here fairly
quickly of being bowl eligible,” Gill said.
“Whether that’s going to happen this year,
I don’t know.”
Freshman Brock Berglund could challenge
Webb and Mecham for the starting
quarterback job. Berglund, however, was
charged with a misdemeanor assault charge
in Colorado on April 9 for punching a man
in Sedalia, a town about 25 miles from
Denver. Berglund pleaded not guilty.
James Sims is the top returning running
back, rushing for 742 yards, nine touchdowns
and three 100-yard games as a
freshman. His 28-yard fourth quarter
touchdown gallop against Colorado was
the longest run by the Jayhawks last year.
Darrian Miller, a freshman four-star
recruit from Blue Springs (Mo.), could be
an instantaneous help. He ran for four
touchdowns in a spring intrasquad scrimmage.
Miller has the necessary speed to be
a breakaway threat, capable of the big play.
Whoever winds up at quarterback will
be looking in the direction of Daymond
Patterson who topped the Jayhawks with
60 catches for 487 yards last season.
The Kansas defense ranked 107th
nationally in stopping the run last year.
This unit has to improve. Darius Willis, a
transfer from Buffalo, and Steven Johnson,
who made 95 tackles last year, will spearhead
the defense. The Jayhawks lacked a
pass rush in 2010, finishing 105th in the
nation, another major concern.
D.J. Beshears is a threat returning kicks,
but the Jayhawks won’t be a threat to contend
this fall in the Big 12.
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