RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.13 (Football)

Cap Fed 

First career touchdown for Evan Fairs #KUfball

A post shared by Kansas Football (@kufootball) on Nov 25, 2017 at 11:07am PST

 

Koch 

Today we honor our Jayhawk Radio Network engineer, Bob Newton, as he prepares for his final football game of his 34-year career with @kuathletics.

Bob will officially retire following the 2018 spring game–but this is his regular-season finale! Thank you, Bob!!! #RockChalk pic.twitter.com/Ljpw0j0Lb7

— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) November 25, 2017

With the 2017 Kansas football season in the books, the Jayhawks said goodbye to eight seniors who put on the Crimson and Blue for the last time at the season finale in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Saturday, November 25.
 
While having an extremely small senior class was not ideal, many younger players in the program were able to gain valuable experience, a commodity that should boost the Jayhawks moving forward.
 
Kansas currently ranks tied for fourth in the FBS in 2017 with 47 different players earning a start in at least one game. Overall, KU loses only four of those players to graduation in tight end Ben Johnson (10 starts), offensive linemen Zach Hannon (6 starts) and Jayson Rhodes (3 starts) and defensive lineman Jacky Dezir (1 start).
 
The Jayhawks will return all 11 starters on defense and nine starters on offense—giving them much needed experience returning for the 2018 campaign. Among those returning will be some players with the opportunity to move up in the KU record books.
 
A trio of defenders in seniors Dorance Armstrong Jr., Joe Dineen Jr., and Daniel Wise all have the chance to conclude their careers as Kansas’ all-time leader in tackles-for-loss. The career mark is 41.0 set by Willie Pless (1982-85). Armstrong currently sits in sixth place on the list with 34.0 TFLs, Dineen is tied for seventh with 33.5 TFLs, while Wise is right behind him in 10th place with 32.5 career tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, wide receiver Steven Sims Jr., returns as KU’s top weapon. Sims concluded his junior campaign with 2,047 career receiving yards, which ranks him fifth on KU’s all-time chart. Sims ranks third on the Kansas receptions chart with 161 through three seasons. Additionally, he currently ranks tied for sixth place on KU’s receiving touchdowns list with 15.