Summer's Grind

Source: Missourian

This is the time of the year when YouTube becomes my best friend. Not really of my own free will, but out of childish bad habit. There never really is enough news to quench my insatiable, and often unhealthy, thirst for everything KU Football, regardless of the time of year, but this is heightened tenfold in the summer, so I always spend a few hours here, a few hours there, a few days here, a few days there, watching, re-watching, and re-re-watching highlights from years past. Yeah, I've got problems. Un-diagnosed OCD. Call me a doctor.

For the team, though, this summer will be spent in the weight room and on the hill, improving strength and conditioning. What time is not spent in those two loci should be spent committing the playbook to memory. It is an uphill race against Father Time for the players and coaches, but for us fans, Spring Ball is over, and fall camp is still a few months out. Here are some questions that we have right now, heading into the hiatus, and the answers that I anticipate are disclosed come August.


1) Will good wide-receiver play be the exception, or the rule?

Numbers were not the issue last season, and they don’t figure to be an issue this year. The Hawks may well have themselves more D1 caliber wide outs on the roster this coming season than at any point in recent memory. Unfortunately, they may well have less experience at the position than at any point in recent memory, too. Yes, Daymond Patterson and D.J. Beshears are well known commodities, and look to anchor the group, but they have never really served as the “featured” wide-out. And with their small stature, they better not be Crist’s sole target.

Kale Pick is poised for a break-out (Kerry Meier like) season, now that he has a reliable gunslinger, but he is still a little green at the position and could use a teammate that can stretch the field and give him some space to work with underneath the coverage.

Newcomer Josh Ford will, at the very least, stretch the field, giving opposing defenses reason to be honest. If he can catch a few long ones this year, that’s gravy. Chris Omigie and Christian Matthews have, and will always headline the offseason, but will they actually live up to their billing or will they fall into the shadows of expectation like the past two seasons? I’m going to say that one of them does something. It could be wishful thinking, though.

Tre Parmalee would be my best bet for a guy that could come in and play as a true freshman because of his skills and football I.Q., but his biggest hindrances are Patterson and Beshears. KU would be better served to preserve a year of his eligibility, and get him going with temporary scout-team quarterbak Jake Heaps.

Of course, Justin McCay will not be able to take the field until next year, so we always have him to look forward to.

To answer the question, I am going to say that the wide receivers will be good. They won’t be reliable all of the time like Kerry Meier, and they won’t be exciting all of the time like Dezmon Briscoe, but they also won’t be futile like… well let’s just not go there.   

2) Outside of the big three (Hawkinson, Zlatnik, and Marrongelli), who steps up on the offensive line?

Hawkinson, Zlatnik, and Marrongelli could be the best threesome in the Big 12. They are the summit. After them though, way down in the gorge, there is the rest of the KU offensive linemen. If Kansas wants to be competitive this year, it sorely needs 2 more linemen and some depth. I am fairly confident that at least that one of Riley Spener, Gavin Howard, Aslam Sterling, or Dylan Admire steps up. I think we will know soon enough. Weis isn’t bashful.       

3) Where will Kansas find its pass rush?

Who will be the culprit? That is a good question. But before I hint at my answer, let’s just be thankful that there is a culprit. The past few seasons, when the quarterback scanned the Kansas defense, there was no bad guy. Kansas could not get after the quarterback.

It starts up front with supervillain Jordan Tavai, the Juco transfer defensive tackle. Hopefully he can get his new buddy John Williams to be his partner in crime, moving the line of scrimmage. Their sidekicks, Toben Opurum and Josh Williams will benefit from whatever push Tavai and Williams create, bringing heat off the edge. Hopefully, if these four are all gelling, Kansas will be forced to blitz less with its linebackers, thus benefiting the defense in two ways: for one, the blitz will become more of a luxury and less of a necessity, making for better effectiveness, and for two, linebackers will be able to drop back in coverage to help the secondary, especially with the Big 12’s spread offenses, trips wide, 5 wide out sets, etc.

If, and this is a huge if, but it makes me an eager beaver, if the four down lineman can serve as a sufficient pass rush by themselves, and the linebackers can afford to have a more suprising blitz package, Tunde Bakare can be dangerous. He is raw, but he is fast. And he is mean. If Tunde has a clear shot at the quarterback, he is going to get him. And more times than not, he is going to get the football too. So, if Tunde does get some unblocked shots at the quarterback, fans will be wondering where he was all last season. Well, he was hre, but he didn't get a lot of help. Tunder will look like the most improved player this year if Kansas can get 4 down linemen to pressure the backfield. Bakare probably has improved quite considerably during the offseason, especially with the help of Dave Campo, but we need to also consider the supporting cast around him.           

4) The Mike linebacker's name will be...


Schyler Miles. Before season's end, the true freshman from Florida will crack the starting lineup. He is big, athletic, and smart. The only way that I don't see this happening is if Weis throws a red-shirt on him, but I think he sees the field ASAP and the red-shirt goes to a Courtney Arnick type linebacker.


Anthony McDonald and Darius Willis will push each other for playing time, but really they are just warming the seat for Miles.


5) Will the kicking game be the team's Achilles, or will it at least be par for the course?  

Well... Ronny Doherty is a pretty solid punter, and he can kick the ball a little bit. Alex Mueller, whose ceiling was sky high last summer, has left the team. Tanner Gibas, the long snapper with an even higher ceiling still, left the team as well. So there are shoes to be filled, although they weren't particularly "big".


Sure, they both would have improved, but consider the situation addition by subtraction. Gibas had a few errant snaps, and Mueller was woefully bad. While he only missed one extra point, he was only 3 for 8 on field goals, and his long was only 36 yards. Scouts said that the ball exploded off his foot in high school, but something happened before college, because Mueller lost his kickoff duties early in the year, and later, his place kicking job.


There have been some "soccer" additions to the specialists. While I'm not expecting miracles, like what fell into Texas Tech's laps, making every other field goal would be nice. 70% would be awesome. Anything above, ideal.


I'll take an average kicking game. With it, Kansas beats Iowa State last fall.