Reesing, Jayhawks still determined to measure upDog days await

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Oct 17, 2008 by Tully Corcoran

By Tully Corcoran

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

LAWRENCE -- This is the irony of Todd Reesing: He does not consider himself an underdog.

Not ever. And it isn't lip service with him. You'll have to forgive him, but he feels like he's pretty good.

You can see it when he scrambles. The smallest guy on the field, most times, Reesing will take off on a scramble and throw his body into a gap in a way that makes it look like he is about to lose his life. And then he will take the shot, get up, adjust his facemask, and run the next play.

You can see it when he doesn't take off, when he bounces around in the pocket, sliding past blitzers, always looking downfield. The taught football play is to dump the ball out of bounds and live to see another down. Reesing rarely does this, yet he rarely takes a sack and rarely throws an interception.

He never concedes a play. He never concedes anything.

And the ironic part is that Reesing is most certainly an underdog. He is the embodiment of an underdog. He played high school ball in Texas, but it was Class 4A ball, not the prestigious 5A. Not many Division I schools wanted him. He may or may not be 5-foot-10. He plays at Kansas.

So you ask him, the week he is set to play overdog and No. 4 Oklahoma, with its 6-5 quarterback, Sam Bradford, in the Heisman race, if the Jayhawks feel like underdogs.

"I don't know what we feel like," Reesing says.

In that regard, he is alone.

"I always love being the underdog," linebacker James Holt says.

"We feel like we're underdogs every week," cornerback Chris Harris admits.

"I definitely think each week (people) still expect us to lose," linebacker Joe Mortensen says.

This feels true to Holt and Mortensen and Harris, but it isn't true at all. No. 16 Kansas has been favored in five of its six games this season. The Jayhawks have been ranked in the Top 25 for 18 consecutive weeks. Many Kansas players are on watch lists for national awards.

Yet there prevails a sense that Kansas has not arrived.

"Just 'cause of the name on the jersey," Harris says, "that's how it's gonna be."

And that's precisely what coach Mark Mangino intends to change.

"The challenge of this program is to pass the test of time -- to build something strong here, to build something that will last longer than my career, longer than our players' careers," Mangino says. "That's the real challenge here at Kansas. That's my pledge at Kansas. Anything short of that, I will think I have failed."

Whether, by his own measure, Mangino has succeeded or failed at Kansas is undetermined, no matter how happy boosters and administrators may be with his performance.

There have been many landmarks. The bowl game in 2003, the wins against Kansas State in 2004 and Nebraska in 2005, and all the glory that came with a BCS bowl season.

But where, in the broader sense Mangino talks about, is the program? Is it positioned for another run at 12-1 any time soon, or was that the once-in-a-generation storm of All-Americans, a healthy lineup and elite quarterback play?

The roster provides KU fans the hope they need to project the Top 25 rankings to keep coming for the foreseeable future. At the offensive skill positions, Kansas' starters have an average of 1.4 years of eligibility remaining after this season, and both offensive tackles will have three years left. Defensively, Kansas will lose three excellent linebackers and cornerback Kendrick Harper after this season.

But, as Mangino well knows from the first four years of his tenure at KU, few things can be more difficult to overcome than unrest at quarterback, and Reesing has just a year and a half left. Which is why Kansas was so thrilled when Dodge City quarterback Kale Pick decommitted from Arkansas last year and became a Jayhawk.

"Huge," offensive coordinator Ed Warinner says.

Pick, who is taking a redshirt this season, was KU's No. 1 quarterback target in the 2007 class. He is the presumptive starter in 2010, but if that doesn't work out, Kansas also has two commitments from the class of 2009, including Jordan Webb, a 6-foot- 1, 204-pound senior quarterback from Mount Union, Mo., who threw for 4,300 yards, 55 touchdowns and seven interceptions while rushing for 633 yards and 11 touchdowns last year. He chose Kansas over rival Missouri.

In some respects, Kansas already is rebuilding after losing two All-Americans off a Top 10 defense.

"You don't get over losing Aqib Talib and James McClinton with the snap of a finger," Mangino says. "We're not that good."

The idea is to get there. The winning (KU is 20-3 since Oct. 28, 2006) has helped open doors in recruiting, and Kansas hopes opening doors to a $31 million football facility will draw in more recruits.

Winning, you figure, breeds more winning.

"I want this place to know that when I leave, there will be a strong foundation, that KU will no longer be the bottom of the conference, the laughing stock of the conference," Mangino says. "That when you go to the ballfield to play KU, you better show up, or they'll beat you."

That's why Mangino believes KU's upcoming schedule -- dates with No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 1 Texas and No. 11 Missouri await in the next five weeks -- provide an opportunity "to make a statement."