**** OFFICIAL 2010 Kansas Football Repository Thread ****

[ArrowheadHawk]

Spring football Site

Let the Gill era begin.

[Mr. Plow]

Tag

[ArrowheadHawk]

Looks like he is a going to be a 4 star recruit. Good to see that we beat out Old Balls for this guy. Also would be nice if he would convince Perry Ellis to come to school here.

Wichita RB picks Kansas

By Matt Tait
March 27, 2010
As expected, Wichita Heights running back Dreamius Smith orally committed to Turner Gill’s Kansas University football program on Saturday.

Smith, in town with his family to take in the Jayhawks first practices of the spring and visit the facilities, becomes the second commitment in KU’s Class of 2011. He joins fellow-running back Darrian Miller, of Blue Springs (Mo.) High as the first high school juniors to commit to Kansas this season.


“I met all of the coaches and they made it feel like a home to me,” Smith told Rivals.com on Saturday.

KU assistant coach Robert Wimberly was the lead recruiter for the projected four-star running back and Smith said last week that he felt as if Wimberly was one of his best friends.

After meeting with Wimberly and other KU assistant coaches — including running backs coach Reggie Mitchell — Smith and his family sat down with Gill and told the head coach of his decision to become a Jayhawk.

As a junior in 2009, Smith, 6-foot, 205 pounds, rushed for more than 1,300 yards and helped lead Wichita Heights to the Class 6A state title game, where they lost to Olathe North. In addition, Smith joined heavily-recruited hoops teammate Perry Ellis in leading Heights to the state basketball title.

In February, Kansas became the first school to offer Smith a scholarship. That early interest, combined with Smith’s childhood dreams of playing his college football in Lawrence, helped lead him to commit.

Smith also received heavy interest from Kansas State, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

[ChiefMojo]

Both of KU's RB commits might be 4*. I know Miller will be for sure and Smith might also. The first two commits for KU will fill KU's RB class. One heck of a way to start recruiting for 2011!

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by ChiefMojo

Both of KU's RB commits might be 4*. I know Miller will be for sure and Smith might also. The first two commits for KU will fill KU's RB class. One heck of a way to start recruiting for 2011!

I like the Gill era already.

[ChiefMojo]

KU landed a 4* in Bourbon last class and Sims very well could have ended up one as well. I think it is pretty apparent KU will be running the ball a lot more this coming season. Sure they have a lot of talent and depth at WR, but it will be the running game they will hang their hat on.

Not only do KU return all of their starting OL and depth behind that, but they have bulked up further even. Hawkinson is 295-pounds now and likely will be 300-pounds + come season time, Spikes and Zlatnik are 325-pounds, Hatch is 335-pounds, Capra 300-pounds, and Thorson is 315-pounds. Wolfe has moved from OT down to TE is now sitting at 255-pounds and is supposedly moving very well. He will be a great tandem with Biere who is close to 260-pounds now. KU is definitely loading up to run like crazy! They will need it due to the defense... ball control time.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by ChiefMojo

KU landed a 4* in Bourbon last class and Sims very well could have ended up one as well. I think it is pretty apparent KU will be running the ball a lot more this coming season. Sure they have a lot of talent and depth at WR, but it will be the running game they will hang their hat on.

Not only do KU return all of their starting OL and depth behind that, but they have bulked up further even. Hawkinson is 295-pounds now and likely will be 300-pounds + come season time, Spikes and Zlatnik are 325-pounds, Hatch is 335-pounds, Capra 300-pounds, and Thorson is 315-pounds. Wolfe has moved from OT down to TE is now sitting at 255-pounds and is supposedly moving very well. He will be a great tandem with Biere who is close to 260-pounds now. KU is definitely loading up to run like crazy! They will need it due to the defense... ball control time.

What's that?......It will be nice not to have to win shootouts.

[ChiefMojo]

No kidding, there was no such thing as ball control the last few years of Mangino. We were purely a Spread team that was horrible in short yardage situations. Not only will we see a lot of two tight TE's, but we will also see the use of a fullback a lot. Foster is 255-pounds and will likely be the fullback. Wouldn't surprise me if Quigley got into that mix if he proved he wanted to block... he has the size. KU also landed as a preferred walk-on in Hutchinson fullback Josh Smith. Smith is a freaking beast in the mold of the old Nebraska fullbacks. He turned down offers from Air Force and Navy since he fit perfectly in their Flexbone offense (that is what Hutch ran).

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by ChiefMojo

No kidding, there was no such thing as ball control the last few years of Mangino. We were purely a Spread team that was horrible in short yardage situations. Not only will we see a lot of two tight TE's, but we will also see the use of a fullback a lot. Foster is 255-pounds and will likely be the fullback. Wouldn't surprise me if Quigley got into that mix if he proved he wanted to block... he has the size. KU also landed as a preferred walk-on in Hutchinson fullback Josh Smith. Smith is a freaking beast in the mold of the old Nebraska fullbacks. He turned down offers from Air Force and Navy since he fit perfectly in their Flexbone offense (that is what Hutch ran).

Hopefully change is good.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Gill casts his spell on KU football

New Jayhawk era opens with spring drills

By Matt Tait



Photo by Jon Goering
Kansas head coach Turner Gill gathers with the team during spring practice on Sunday, March 28, 2010.


Sunday, after nearly three hours on the field for his first official practice with Kansas University’s football team, KU coach Turner Gill had one final test for his troops.

This, perhaps more than any physical drill or simple instruction, best symbolized what Gill is all about as a football coach. With his team on one knee, huddled in front of him, Gill called on senior place kicker Jacob Branstetter to lead the Jayhawks in one of the team’s new traditions: a letter-by-letter reciting of the team mantra “B.E.L.I.E.V.E.”

B: Believe in each other and the things not yet seen.

E: Empower people by encouragement.

L: Learn and press on toward the goal.

I: Influence by being a positive role model.

E: Expect great effort all the time.

V: Visualize excellence.

E: Enjoy the college football experience.

This same idea served Gill well during his four years at the University of Buffalo and, according to wide receiver Chris Omigie, was one of Gill’s priorities upon arriving at KU.

“It was the first day (he met with us),” Omigie said. “He told us what it was and then he said, ‘Now, I’m going to expect you guys to memorize this before our season is over.’ And he’s going to expect all of us to be able to recite it word-for-word to the rest of the team.

“I’m close,” Omigie continued. “I practice it almost every day. I think I’ve got it down to the second E. I think it’s more just remembering how to spell it than remembering the words of it. Some people just get it mixed up.”

The simple sound of the drill, with its almost military ring, invoked visions of a team that relies on discipline and togetherness. The hooting and hollering that followed — after the “enjoy the college football experience” part — demonstrated that things are a little different around the KU camp these days.

“(Coach Gill) was pretty laid-back,” sophomore running back Toben Opurum said. “You know, there were a couple of mental mistakes, but that’s expected at the first practice. We just went out and played our hearts out like we know he wants us to.”

Added sophomore receiver Bradley McDougald: “The coaches, they were getting after us, but in the right way. It was definitely different, something I can get used to.”

On a sunny day, with temperatures comfortably in the 50s, Gill looked very much like the same man he had been for the past four years at Buffalo. He wore a blue pullover, gray sweatpants and a white hat with blue letters. Of course, the setting, the increased media presence, the players in the helmets and even the other coaches served as constant reminders that Gill no longer was in New York.

As he has with just about everything that has been thrown at him since arriving in Lawrence, Gill greeted his new environment with his head held high and a smile on his face.

“The only word is just exciting,” he said. “It’s an exciting opportunity to be here, to coach in the Big 12 Conference and at the University of Kansas. I’m just excited to get this thing going.”
Photo Gallery

KU football spring practice


Photos from the Jayhawks' spring practice March 28, 2010.

While a large portion of opening day was a feeling-out process for both players and coaches — what senior defensive back Chris Harris called “a learning practice” — there were a few details that needed to be addressed:

• Linebacker Vernon Brooks, a senior-to-be who played in five games and made five tackles in 2009, has been dismissed from the team. Gill informed the media in his opening statement. “Vernon Brooks has been removed from our football team due to violation of our team policy,” Gill said. “Permanently.”

• Speaking of linebackers, Gill said senior linebacker Drew Dudley, who was rumored to be out for spring drills because of a shoulder injury, was day-to-day and would be limited during the first several practices. “He’s just doing the minimum stuff. We’ll just have to see how he feels. But our trainers are going to make all those calls, and we’ll do the best we can with them. There’s some guys who will be limited. On Wednesday, we’ll give you more of a specific update on where we’re at.”

• Gill said he planned to make good use of the program’s three-year-old practice fields that still look as if they were installed last week. “(In college football), everybody knows what everybody’s doing, and I’m not a person that’s going to be (worried) over somebody watching what we do and how we do it,” said Gill, asked if he was concerned about spies observing practice. “We’ll probably (spend) the majority of the time on the practice fields, but there will be times where we’ll go into the stadium, too.”

• The Jayhawks will return to practice at 3:30 today and also will practice Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to close out the first week of spring drills.

[Frazod]

I B.E.L.I.E.V.E. that they're going to S.U.C.K. A.S.S.

[ArrowheadHawk]

OMG! Omigie promising

By Tom Keegan


Sometimes you just get a hunch about a young athlete. Something about the way he carries himself, the intelligence he displays in an interview, the physical gifts he possesses, how seriously he takes his sport.

Kansas University receiver Chris Omigie, who red-shirted in 2009 and has four years of eligibility remaining, qualifies.

He stands 6-foot-4 and said that after packing on 10 pounds of muscle he weighs 195 pounds. After his first spring practice Sunday under new coach Turner Gill, Omigie revealed a self-confidence that seemed real, yet not the least bit obnoxious.

“I think I bring size to the table, speed as a tall receiver, and you throw it up and it has to come down with me,” said Omigie, a native of Arlington, Texas. “If it’s not coming down with me, it’s not coming down with anybody.”

A quick look at his high school highlight tape on YouTube shows a physical player opening holes for running backs. Omigie said he always has taken pride in blocking and enjoys letting cornerbacks know he’s not going to get pushed around by them.

“If you hit them first, that’s going to make them second-think the next time they run up to you,” he said. “And if they do run back up to you, you just have to keep hitting them in the mouth until they realize you’re not one to be messed with on the football field.”

Nobody can say Mark Mangino left the cupboard bare, particularly at wide receiver. Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier are gone, but it still will take beating out proven receivers for Omigie to earn significant playing time.

Wideouts Johnathan Wilson and Bradley McDougald and slot receiver Daymond Patterson are the leading candidates to appear on the first team of Gill’s first depth chart. Omigie and Erick McGriff, also a 6-4 rising red-shirt freshman, bring more size to the position.

Omigie said he is grateful to Mangino for not burning his red-shirt year with minimal playing time.

“Against Iowa State, I just knew I was going to go in,” Omigie said. “It was pretty cold. Briscoe was freezing. Everybody had their big jackets on on the sideline. At first, we were winning, and then the game got kind of close. He looked at Briscoe, and Briscoe’s hands were red and numb, and he had them in a hand-warmer. He looked at me, and he was like, ‘Briscoe, I’m sorry, this game is too close, too much on the line. You have to suck it up and get back out there.’ I understood.”

Asked to name a receiver he resembles, Omigie didn’t grow shy.

“I want to say Randy Moss because I grew up trying to copy-cat everything he did,” Omigie said. “I would watch Viking games when he got traded. All through elementary school to high school I was always wanting the fade ball, all deep balls, because I was always fast and tall.”

During his red-shirt season, Briscoe was his receiving role model.

“I learned from him that you have to have a really short-term memory,” Omigie said. “If you drop a pass, you can’t be thinking, ‘Man, I dropped that pass.’ You have to let that go.”

Asked if he dropped any passes on the first day of spring practice, Omigie said, “I forgot already.”

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by frazod

I B.E.L.I.E.V.E. that they're going to S.U.C.K. A.S.S.

Wow, so clever.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

Wow, so clever.

Is history still awaiting?

[sedated]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

OMG! Omigie promising

IIRC, he was a pretty big-time recruit.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by frazod

Is history still awaiting?

So tell me again how many Big 12 Championships and National Championships Mizzou has that makes it so much better than KU. Oh yeah that would be ZERO! Now how about head to head you should have a comanding lead there also right. WRONG!