Kansas Football Holds Second Workout, Grunhard Meets With Media
Aug. 3, 2012
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas football held its second practice of fall camp on Friday afternoon at the practice fields adjacent to Memorial Stadium. The Jayhawks worked out for the second-straight day under partly sunny skies.
Prior to Friday’s practice, Offensive Line Coach Tim Grunhard and requested offensive linemen met with the media in the Chancellor’s Lounge. Below is a portion of Grunhard’s session.
Offensive Line Coach Tim Grunhard
On position battles during camp:
“I think our three fifth-year seniors are pretty much settled. On the right side we have some guys that are battling for some positions with Gavin (Howard), (Riley) Spencer and Aslam (Sterling) coming in. It’s a great healthy battle between those three. On the other side with the fifth-year seniors, they’re good football players. They’re smart and really want to win. They’ve done everything they possibly can this summer to give themselves an opportunity to go out as a winner. I applaud them for how hard they’ve worked this summer. They’re very, very excited to go out and compete against some of the teams that have, quite frankly, given them a hard time the last couple of years.”
On what gives a player an edge when he is battling for playing time:
“They took the first step with how hard they worked they worked this summer. We, as coaches, can take credit for calling the plays and for the technique that we teach, but they took the first step. They worked so hard this summer. Really, it goes back to January with the off-season program; they bought in. Half of the battle is that you have to get guys to buy in (to your program). Here’s a whole new staff, a whole new program and they believe that if we do things the right way then we can have success. As far as the guys up front, they bought in and I think everybody else has also.”
On Pat Lewandowski adjusting to playing offensive tackle:
“He’s excited about the move. If you look at (Pat) Lewandowski, he’s put on about 15 pounds of muscle. He’s a really smart guy. Today we were asking questions about some different red-ball calls and how they’re going to equate into the plays. And we brought up this one, and he said `Oh yeah, that’s the screen.’ And I said `how would you know? Were you cheating?’ That’s how smart he is though, he knew the red-ball plays already from playing against them on defense (last spring). I’m excited about Pat. I remember him playing at Blue Valley West (High School) on the offensive line and tight end position and he’s a heck of an athlete. He gives us some quality depth at the left tackle position. We think that he could step in, if he had to, and compete for us.”
On what he feels good about with the offensive unit:
“I think one of the things I see (early in camp) is we’re going to be able to run the ball. We have some running backs. We have a guy in (Tony Pierson) that can get up the field and go then we have (Brandon) Bourbon, who is a big guy that can move and run between the tackles. He can make some people cringe when they tackle him. We have the new kid (Taylor) Cox coming in and he’s looked good and then when (James) Sims gets back in the mix, we will have some guys. So, I’ve told our (offensive linemen), `just get in the way (of the defenders), let these guys have an opportunity, because we’ve got some home run hitters (in the backfield)’. I really truly believe that we will be able to run the ball. That’s a positive, because you can score points and you can eat up the clock a little bit when you run the ball. As far as pass protection goes, these guys have taken it to heart that they want to keep (quarterback) Dayne Crist healthy. They know that Dayne is an integral part of this offense. They talk about it every day that we need to keep Dayne healthy and give him an opportunity to step up and throw the ball and not worry about people falling at his feet. Dayne and this offensive line have a great relationship.”
