David Beaty Era Officially Opens With First Spring Practice
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas football program welcomed new members of its team and coaching staff to the field while officially beginning preparation for the 2015 season after completing the first of 15 spring practices under first-year head coach David Beaty on Tuesday.
“It’s been a long time coming since Dec. 5, I believe it was,” Beaty said. “I’ve gotten to do a lot of fun things since I got this job, but today was by far the most fun.” Offensive line coach Zach Yenser
demonstrates a blocking technique Tuesday.
Beaty put the team through an adversity test in his opening practice at the helm. Not only faced with learning a new playbook and operating in a fast, up-tempo system, the Jayhawks also endured a lightning delay as well as a heavy downpour and dime-sized hail.
Even in the first practice and with players donning just helmets and shorts Beaty and the coaching staff was impressed with the tenacity and focus of the group in day one.
“Tempo is very important to us,” Beaty said. “It’s a characteristic we’re going to possess on offense and defense. We ran 94 plays in 44 minutes which – man for the first day – that’s pretty good.”
Following Wednesday’s Pro Day, the Jayhawks will return to the practice fields for their second scheduled practice Thursday afternoon once again wearing shells.
Kansas will hold its annual Spring Game on Saturday, April 25. The game will be held in Memorial Stadium at 1 p.m.
The Spring Game will be televised live on the Jayhawk Television Network in the state of Kansas and the Kansas City metro area and nationally on ESPN3. Additionally, the game will be broadcast live across the state of Kansas on the Jayhawk Radio Network, with an audio stream also available at KUAthletics.com.
Per NCAA rules, KU will hold 15 practices during the spring season. As a safety precaution, in two of the practice sessions players will be limited to helmets only. Additionally, in a third session players are only allowed to dress out in helmets and shoulder pads, as they are required to go through an acclimatization period. The remaining 12 practice sessions players are able to wear full pads and participate in live contact drills for a portion of practice. The Jayhawks will spread out their spring practice dates over a five-week period spanning the last week of March and the month of April.
In addition to the spring game on Saturday, April 25, Kansas Athletics will host the fourth annual Train Like a Jayhawk Kid’s Clinic. More information on the Train Like a Jayhawk Kid’s Clinic and all of the events surrounding the annual spring game, including times, locations and parking information, will be provided at a later date.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
