The Gridiron

Kansas now has its own version of “Hard Knocks”, a HBO special that covers NFL training camps. A former film graduate from KU is working his own version and it’s sick. Check it out at www.KUFootball.com

Gut Shot

Talk about guts. After KU got embarrassed by NDSU, here’s what their coach had to say about the team and its fans:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/sep/09/ndsu-coach-rips-ku/?sports

Round and Round We Go

After wild rumors that Kale Pick had quit the team, turns out the worry was all for not. Like a carousel, it looks as

Red-Shirt Freshman, Jordan Webb

though Turner Gill is going to give us a ride and see glimpses of both quarterbacks. After I wrote the article “Quarterback Quandary”, Gill announced that we will be seeing Jordan Webb taking snaps this weekend. Will we see Pick lining up in the slot? (I suppose anything is possible at this point). One point that does reassure me that Webb will be fine is the confidence, that an inside source told me, the team has with either quarterbacks under center.

This week the Jayhawks will also sport a change on the offensive line when junior center, Jeremiah Hatch, retakes his place, after starting 24 straight games (the most of any Jayhawk coming into the season). He takes the place of senior, Sal Capra.

Undoubtedly, the Jayhawks will see numerous other changes in this weeks lineup to work out a few kinks.

My 2011 Royals

Image via Wikipedia

The Royals have made many roster moves this past month that has included various trades, bringing players back from the DL, and some minor league call ups. However, how many of these guys do we really foresee sticking around to make the opening day roster in 2011?

First, we’ll start with pitching, which is the most jumbled mess of it all. Let’s start with the two obvious, Zack Greinke and Joakim Soria. Past that, I scratch my head. But, I don’t see much chance, if any, of any minor leaguers being able to make the team on opening day next year. So we’ll all be pretty much stuck with what we have now. My 2011 starters: (1) Greinke, (2) Bannister, (3) Hochevar, (4) Chen, and (5) O’Sullivan. Yes, I left the beloved Kyle Davies off this list, ha! This however, doesn’t mean that I don’t have him on my roster, so obviously I have him in the bullpen. In some ways he has been better than both Hochevar and Bannister, and other ways not. I’m a firm believer that both need more time to develop. How much time can we continue to give them, with young guys waiting below. Rounding out my list of pitchers I expect to see are Dusty Hughes (lefty, and he’s been having a great second half the season), Robinson Tejeda (would love to see him try to start again next season if we see struggles from the five mentioned above; crazy I know), Gil Meche (veteran, that’s it), and Blake Wood (had his struggles but I like the guy). After that I believe the race for the bullpen is wide open. I would like to see Tim Collins get a call up this September, but other than that there’s still possibly five spots available.

Infield, an interesting story… Unfortunately, I’m just going to go ahead and list all of the guys currently on the roster: Mike Aviles (I don’t even know what to say here, other than the fact I’m a fan of the guy), Yuniesky Betancourt (not a fan, but the guy has put together a solid season after an awful start), Wilson Betemit (hitting the ball well), Billy Butler (wish he could find his power, but Billy is a legitimate major league first baseman), Josh Fields (hitting the ball well), Chris Getz (please come around, going to struggle to be with the team opening day), and Kila Monster (just needs to relax and become the machine he has been in the minors). The infield is definitely a project, but the minor league system is at least a year away from providing help.

As for behind the plate, the answer for me is simply, we will see Jason Kendall again next year. I don’t know what it is about the guy, that makes me not a fan of him, but according to everything I hear he has great veteran leadership and fair enough stats to get the nod. I’m not a huge Brayan Pena fan, but he is finally hitting and maybe he can provide some help behind the plate after all; as I’m writing this Brayan Pena throws someone out at second, maybe I should become a fan. The guy really has put in a lot of work and deserves the starts he is getting right now. I’d love to see possibly fresh blood in there, i.e. Lucas May. He’s getting his shot now, but we’re yet to see his reliable bat, as he’s only had four at bats but has gone hitless. He’s definitely a project in the making, the guy hasn’t been behind the plate long with his position switch.

The outfield is very intriguing for me. This is where the Royals have seen the most new faces this past month. My vote for outfield next year is DeJesus (glad the trade didn’t go through; I still believe he can be a solid piece of the puzzle for years to come, my friends love to hear me say this because I’d always been a so called “DeJesus Hater”), Maier (love the guy, if he could get his swing stronger especially), and Blanco (mixed feeling on him, but most likely the Royals new lead off man for next year). That leaves Dyson, Gordon, Miller, Bloomquist, and Parraz all with a shot to make the roster. I believe we’ll see a few other faces instead.  I’m  really pulling for Gordon, the guy has had it rough, but I’d love for him to truly become the face of the franchise, we’ll see.

Essentially, I think that nine spots will be a battle, with twenty-one locks. I don’t like this fact at all. Brining twenty-one back off a horrendous team… In case you  didn’t get them, here they”re again: Greinke, Bannister, Hochevar, Chen, O’Sullivan, Hughes, Meche, Wood, Tejeda, Davies,  Aviles, Betancourt, Betemit, Butler, Fields, Ka’aihue, Kendall, Pena, DeJesus, Maier, and Blanco. I guess we have to continue to trust in the system and suffer for another year or two. I’m predicting that 2013-2014 will be the time for the Royals.

Quarterback Quandary?

Ugly. Unsightly. Embarrassing. All words that describe KU’s offense last Saturday against The Bison of North Dakota State. And to top it all off apparently Kansas now has on  its hands a “quarterback quandary”. This is just what was needed after the disgraceful 6-3 loss. Turner Gill’s debut didn’t go exactly as planned. I don’t think anyone had expectations of taking the Big 12 North, but are the Jayhawks looking at last place? I know maybe a little early, and a little drastic, but seriously. I had the Hawks pegged at 4-8, and I’m sticking by my guns. I know this isn’t very optimistic, but you have to look at what KU has. Fair warning, I’m going to throw Gill “under-the-bus” a little bit, but I’m not throwing in the towel on him yet, I mean it was only one game, and I have full faith he’ll right the ship.

I’m going to break it down and tell you how things went south so fast, and clearly the only “logical” solution(s). First, lets address this quarterback situation. All that you hear about is how good of a passer Jordan Webb is, we’ll come back to this. Clearly, Kale Pick is the front runner for the starting job. After what I’ve seen from last season and the glimpses we saw Saturday, I like the abilities he possesses. I understand that as a coach you’re trying to change things up and get the offense going, but this was the wrong way to go about it. At half-time KU had still almost collected 187 yards, which isn’t awful, it just didn’t result in any points. KU faltered in all the most important situations, like third down when they went a dismal 2-8 in the first half. Pick never should have been pulled, because (a) he’s your starting quarterback, (b) KU was only down 6-3, and (c) Gill probably robbed Pick  of any confidence he had at all. Pick’s a competitor, so I don’t think he’ll let this “quandary” keep him down. Pick  should be starting this Saturday against Georgia Tech; I think this is what the team wants and what the fans want. Come on Gill, unleash the beast and let Pick be more active and use that speed to the Jayhawks advantage.

With all that being said, I’m going to throw something out there, in a playful/joking, but half-way/really consider this option. You get all of that? Alright, here we go. We all remember the days when we heard Kerry Meier was getting moved to wide receiver, and some no name Todd Reesing was going to be the starting quarterback for the University of Kansas, is it time for deja-vu? Just envision listening to the KU game when you hear Bob Davis say, “Webb drops back, looks left, finds Pick streaking down the sideline. He won’t be caught! Touchdown Jayhawks!” Can you hear it? That’s right, I said it. Think about it. Pick is 6’2″, Meier was 6’2″. Pick runs a 4.5 40, Meier ran a 4.6 while at KU. What is in question however, is does Pick have Meier’s hands? Kerry was pretty reliable, okay, he was Mister Reliable. I see no reason to be jumping around on quarterbacks all season long, with a team, that as of now, appears to be horrific on  offense. I just want that to stew in the back of your mind for awhile.

Now that I got that out  of the way, lets take a look at Toben Opurum. As far as I know, he didn’t even attend the game on Saturday. Did anyone else notice that his name was one that we heard a lot last season, and I don’t recall hearing it mentioned once. How do you take one of your best athletes completely off the field? Especially, to put in two backs that totaled 32 yards rushing on 17 carries. Wasn’t it mentioned that Kansas was going to be a bit more of a running team this year? The Jayhawks only saw the run in approximately 43% of the plays called. I know that they are weak at linebacker depth, but from what I saw, the linebacking core appeared to hold their own. We all remember when KU tried this experiment with Angues Quigley and it failed also. So, save everyone the hassle and put Toben back in the backfield. Also notice, Quigley had a measly seven carries. What’s that say about the confidence of your starting running back? So not only does Gill not trust his quarterback, but now also his running back. And to believe that Sands is going to become half of what his father was, is flat out foolish. I’m not taking anything from either of these two running backs because I don’t doubt that they are pouring their heart and soul into this, and not seeing the results they expect, I’m just saying there’s better options, and that option is Opurum.

My last point goes towards the fans. I don’t understand how a team’s own fans can boo, against themselves…. I mean, seriously? Is this your team or not. I understand being disappointed completely, but shouldn’t you encourage your team and help them become better in that regard? From the articles that I’ve read, the players are taking this negative criticism the right way and using it to motivate them, but it is not acceptable. Don’t lose faith in players like Biere and Branstetter. These guys have been money the past few years for the Hawks, everyone has bad days. Things will improve, the question is at what rate?

Things won’t get any easier with Georgia Tech coming to Lawrence this weekend either. With a few minor adjustments it is still feasible to make a push for a 4-8 record, and hopefully more wins than that. Before the season ends I think Kale Pick will bringing a new meaning to “Pick Six”, if you catch my drift.