Football Fall Camp: First Two-A-Day Practice Arrives for Kansas

Kansas head coach Charlie Weis conducted his second press conference of fall camp Tuesday, breaking up the Jayhawks’ first two-a-day practice sessions. The team took to the fields outside Memorial Stadium around 9 a.m. Tuesday morning and were scheduled to return in the evening. Following Coach Weis’ press conference, requested members of the offensive line and offensive line coach Tim Grunhard were made available to the media. A collection of selected quotes from the press conference and Tuesday’s media availability are listed below. 

Fan Appreciation Day
Fan Appreciation Day will be held in Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 17. The gates on the west side of the stadium will open at 10:45 a.m., with practice slated to begin at 11:15 a.m. Cameras will not be allowed to be used inside the stadium until the completion of practice.

Weis and the Jayhawk players, who will be set up at tables by position group, will sign autographs for 30 minutes following the conclusion of practice. KU football posters, rosters and other promotional items will be available for the team to sign. Any other items brought for signing will have to be personalized by Weis and the KU players.

In addition the Hy-Vee Hawk Zone, full of inflatables games for children, will be open from 9-11 a.m., at the KU football practice fields adjacent to Memorial Stadium on the southeast corner.

Quoteables
Kansas Head Coach Charlie Weis
On any position groups you have been impressed with…
“I am going to cite two players, one of the new guys and one of the existing players that have done a wonderful job. You all have met Cassius (Sendish), I brought him to the Big 12 Media Day in Dallas. We put him at this nickel position, but it is pretty obvious when we are out on the field that one of the people that stands out, both as a leader on the field and a performer, has been Cassius. It has been comforting for us because we have tweaked the tempo on defense. When things are going high-flying, people don’t always have the same concentration because you have to think fast on your feet. I am very happy to see how he is coming along. We have a corner-type guy who can rush the passer, drop in the zones, and also play man-coverage in the nickel position, you need to be able to do all those things. Another guy who has had a wonderful camp is Brandon Bourbon. We don’t ever talk about him because he kind of gets buried on the depth chart a bit. You get buried because of your own play because we are going to play the best guys. We put him in this position behind Tony (Pierson) and he has really thrived. If we asked every coach to rate the best five players in camp, he would be on everyone’s list. That is good for us because he runs, he catches, he runs routes in and out of the backfield, and it has really given us another guy that we are trying to find ways to get more involved in the offense.”

On the positives and negatives of having all the new personalities on the team…
“On the field, I don’t stifle personalities. I like people to have personalities. My personality with you guys is way different than my personality in practice. My personality in practice is way different than it is in games; there are different settings. My thing with some of those guys has been well-documented by a couple of them as I try to teach them the right way to present themselves off the field. I couldn’t care less if they are talking trash on the field, I don’t mind that at all. I kind of like it a bit to tell you the truth; I always liked those type of players. In the meantime, there is a right way and a wrong way to handling yourself and I have a strong conviction that part of my job when guys come in is to educate them on how, in this cyberspace world we live in, you have to be accountable for what you say. The game has changed and I believe my players appreciate it more when they realize you are doing it for their protection and not to stifle their personality.”

On the shape and conditioning of incoming players such as Isaiah Johnson and Rodriguez Coleman…
“Let’s use those two guys for example. Isaiah, the first time he took the conditioning test, did not pass the conditioning test. This morning at 6 A.M., he passed the conditioning test. Rodriguez (Coleman) could run the conditioning test after already running the conditioning test. His stock is way up right now. As you all know, we needed someone at the receiver position to be able to say something like that about. If we are rating players on the team and we are talking about the receiver position, everyone would mention Coleman.”

On if it feels like year one all over again with so many new players…
“I think it is really important for the coaches not to over-coach. I believe they should not try to put in so much stuff that these guys don’t have a chance to catch on. The more you have to think, the slower you play. Our team will be ready for Sept. 7, but I think that the installation will grow as the year goes on because it is important that your guys know what to do. In the past, the coaches say we are going to run this, run that, but guess what, they can’t handle it. The coaches have to change. We have to be astute to what they can handle and what they can’t handle, and tweak your installation, accordingly.”

On if you can do enough with new defense by week one to make a smooth transition…
“Yes, we are getting through this Saturday. Starting next week which is a transition week for us, one of the things we are going to do is run two huddles of offense against one defense. This will be a defensive period. An offense will go to the line of scrimmage to run a play, and as soon as they’re done, 11 guys will be on the ball to get ready to snap the next one. It will be kind of a conditioning period for the offense because they will be running on and off the field the whole time. The idea is to be able to let the offensive players know what they are supposed on the play, and be able to practice it at such a high tempo where the players get lined up and are ready to go. We have had to do a lot of thinking on how to do this, how to practice this style. The only way to simulate the tempo is to have 11 guys waiting to run the next play.”

On whether the two offense-one defense drill is designed to help the defense specifically…
“That is the whole thought methodology. I have never done this before. That is the nature of the game right now and it is the only way we can get a realistic look to the defense, both by execution of the play and the tempo of the play. It will probably be pretty funny to watch. Practicing it just to be able to do it is going to take some work. The show team is going to take some work, forget about the defense. Once we get it, it will benefit the defense greatly because it won’t become as much of a fire drill during the game.”

On Ben Heeney’s performance with the new defense…
“I have no concerns with Ben (Heeney) at this point. Ben is ready to go. He looks like a caveman. I might implement a ‘cut your beard’ policy before too long, but I really have no concerns. There is no doubt he will be one of the main factors in not only performance, but in leadership of our defense. I have been very pleased.”

On the philosophy on hitting with full pads…
“We break it into four-major periods, two of them were ‘thud’ and the other two were full-speed. ‘Thud’ means don’t cut on offense and don’t take them to the ground on defense. The idea is to not take them to the ground during those periods. You can’t practice tackling without going full-speed, and you can’t practice cutting without going full-speed. In the past, I wouldn’t let them cut, but then you end up being the worst cutting team in America; it is part of what you do. It is a big disadvantage to offensive players before they are allowed to cut. Think about a blitzing linebacker that is bull-rushing you the entire time, the easiest way to end that is to cut their legs a couple times. All of a sudden, that rush isn’t nearly as hard because they are afraid you are going to cut their legs. We can’t practice that unless we are going full-speed sometimes.”

On where the offensive line’s performance is at right now…
“Let’s just say I have been very pleased with the competition. We have been rolling through three lines. Are the threes competing with the twos? Are the twos competing with the ones? Right now, I have a lot of the twos competing with the ones. I will list Randall Dent as an example; he is running second team guard right now. Those two guys, Ngalu (Fusimalohi) and (Mike) Smithburg have been playing really good. Dent can’t beat them out, but if we were going to a game, I would be ready to play Randall Dent at either guard spot because his level of play is very close to those other two guys.”

On the importance of the passing game this season…
“There are two ways of looking at the running game being the only thing we have going, and we also didn’t have any toughness. By the end of last year, the team was confident they could run the ball against anybody. Even though we had a crummy record, we walked out of the stadium knowing we improved in the running game. In football theory, you use the run to set up the pass. With our team, the pass will protect our running game. The investment we put into the running game last year will pay dividends this year because now the passing game will help protect the running game.”

On James Sims’ development as a player with high expectations…
“The best thing I like about James Sims is, with all of these running backs, he is still clearly number one. All of the guys behind him are pretty good. James could have gone a lot of different ways going into this camp, he could have felt the pressure and let someone slip by him, but all he has done is competed and played really well thus far. He is tough, he has good vision, and he is good in the passing game. He is a pretty complete player.”

On the battle at kick return and punt return…
“You don’t get to use the kick return all too often anymore, even though we have covered plenty of kicks. There are more touchbacks in college football now. I think we have only covered kick return at full-speed one time so I will reserve my judgment until after we have practiced it another time. We are rolling through six returners in the mix right now. Punt returner, we are using three or four guys, but we have only hit that one time too. I would like to go through it with pads on a couple times before I comment exactly where we are on those.”

On the placekickers…
“Right now, some guys have had good days and bad days. Mesh, we’re all waiting to see him. Yesterday he was 5-for-5. The day before he wasn’t 5-for-5, but yesterday he was. You just go and keep evaluating. I could possibly see using a shorter field goal kicker and a longer field goal kicker. I could possibly see that, but we’ll just wait and see how that plays out.”

On his recruitment of players like Pearce Slater until they get on campus…
“Until the morning Pearce Slater arrived… I’m not going to really go into that… I could write at least a chapter to just be the story on Pearce. It is a long story, but I was very happy to see the big-man walk on campus. At the end of the day, you sign the grant in aid. There are things that are advantage Kansas, meaning we can now communicate, call, text, where no other school can but once a week due to the grant in aid. We have better lines of communication than any other school. Once they have signed a letter of intent and a grant in aid, they’re done. But if they sign just a grant in aide, you still had to keep recruiting. I don’t always consider it recruiting, I consider it building relationships because once a guy is ours; he is ours for good, so you want to build relationships with him, his mom and the people around him.”

On his relationship with Andy Reid…
“We usually talk about family and don’t really talk about football. What he did though he went back and watched what he did with Jamaal (Charles) and Dexter (McCluster) and some of those other guys while I was there. We are very close friends. Football is not really the head of our list of things we talk about. He talked about Bradley (McDougald), he talked about Toben (Opurum). They like both of those guys, and there is a chance both of those guys have a chance to make the squad. We talked about (Anthony) Fasano because I coached him at Notre Dame. We talked about Frankie Hammon because I coached him when I was at Florida. It was fun, but really for the most part I got there early so we could spend a couple of hours to talk about family because that is what we usually talk about.”

On Jake Heaps and the progression of the quarterbacks…
“Michael (Cummings) has had a really good camp. I didn’t know if Michael would be competing to be a number three or to be a number one, but he is competing to be number one, and that is a good thing. The easy thing to do in Michael’s position would be to say Jake (Heaps) is playing better than me and I am never going to get a chance. That is not what he is doing. He is trying to beat him out. Not only has Jake played well, but Michael playing well has put some heat on Jake. I think that anytime you have heat as far as depth charts go, it is a good thing. Jake is number one, and Michael is number two. I am getting Michael ready to play; I am not getting Michael ready to be the backup. In training camp, you get them both ready to play. I could talk about Montell (Cozart) and Jordan (Darling) too. Montell might be playing as good as anybody, but you can’t give everyone equal number of snaps.”

On Jake Heaps’ intangibles and leadership…
“Jake’s intangibles are his greatest attribute. The biggest attribute at the quarterback position is leadership. It is by far more important than anything. If you’re not a leader, nobody is going to want to play for you. It is probably more important than anything.”

On the battle at the linebacker position…
“Those two guys at will linebacker have played so good that I could see one of them rotating in at mike linebacker too. Sampson (Faifili) and Jake (Love) are playing really good, and one of them is going to end up getting cross-trained. Right now we haven’t gotten to that point yet but I don’t know which one it will end up being. (Ben) Heeney is clearly the starter at mike linebacker. Let’s say Jake is the starter, and Sampson is the backup. If Sampson is better than Schyler (Miles), then somebody, either Jake or Sampson, is going to have to get cross-trained at mike. Right now we are very happy at that competition at will. We haven’t been disappointed with Prinze Kande either, but he just hasn’t played as good as those other two guys.”

On Jake Heaps’ year off…
“From my background, I remember having a conversation with Phil Simms my second year in the NFL. Phil had been the starting quarterback for the Giants. He got hurt the 11th game of the season and (Jeff) Hostetler came in and we ended up winning the Super Bowl with him as quarterback. Then, Parcells leaves the next year and in training camp they picked Hostetler as starting quarterback. I am coaching the running backs, but I didn’t have much of a vote because I had just switched from being a defensive guy to offense that year. I spent a lot of time with the quarterbacks and we were struggling. Simms said to me, ‘you can’t lead the team when you’re not playing. You just have to bide your time until you are playing.’ I really think that is what Jake (Heaps) just went through. Jake was arguably our best quarterback last year, but he couldn’t play. You can’t be a true leader when you are not playing at the quarterback position. I think Jake was just chomping at the bit. I am surprised he didn’t meet us at the plane after the West Virginia game. Now it is his time to truly be back in the mix and I think that gave him an opportunity to step up and step forward. He is able to open his mouth, not just as a teammate, but now as a guy who is willing and able to accept the leadership role.”

On the progress of the F-Backs…
“It has given us a lot of flexibility. Tony (Pierson) and Brandon (Bourbon) can do a lot of things. We didn’t know for sure that Brandon could. That was me taking a chance on a guy I thought gave us the best chance besides Tony. Because those guys are smart and versatile, and can both run and catch the ball very well, it allows us to do things that we weren’t capable of last year.”

On the increased depth at defensive line…
“Buddy Wyatt told me this morning, ‘Thank you for talking me off of that ledge. I was on that ledge ready to jump that first year. Now it is nice to be able to come out to practice and walk through the stretch lines and think okay, we have some guys that can play this year.’ Last year we were awful. We were awful at many positions. We were awful at head coaching in case you were all wondering, but I am trying to improve. To be perfectly honest with you, it perks you up as the defensive line coach and the rest of the coaches to see some guys with athletic ability and being able to go two- and three-deep, put guys in, and don’t see a huge drop off from one to the next. It is very encouraging.”

On the rules protecting the receivers…
“We watched a video from the Big 12 a couple days ago. The Big 12 sends you these videos, and I actually copied them off and showed them to the players to show what they were calling. Then we actually went out and we had Coach (Clint) Bowen and a couple of the players demonstrate what the rules were to not get a penalty and especially not a concussion. We all know that concussions are a big reason why these rules have come into play. Most head injuries become a major issue. I think you have to spend the time by showing on video and then showing them on the field the right and wrong way of doing things.”

On the players reaction to the Bon Jovi music…
“They’re starting to sing the words. It has taken them a little bit of time, but I am very pleased I can hear the chorus for Its My Life and Living On a Prayer. It only took them a year to figure it out and roll with it. I have cut down from two songs to one song and I don’t get to pick it, but if it is not one of the one’s I like, I make sure to let them know after practice that I really didn’t appreciate it. You guys think I am spending a lot of time picking The Rising from Springsteen because we are rising from the ashes. No, that is not on me, although I think it was an appropriate choice in case you were wondering.” 

Tim Grunhard, Offensive Line Coach
On how long it should take for the offensive line to gel…
“Well we’re hoping to get this unit together before training camp is over. It will basically be whenever we have six or seven guys that we can trust to get in there and play at multiple positions, because we can’t wait until the fourth or fifth game (to have a unit). We’ve got to get these guys ready, and the pressure is not only on them, but it’s on us as a coaching staff as well.”

On what he’s seen from Pearce Slater in his short time here…
“He really wants to be good. He’s got really nice feet. He’s got really nice balance for a guy that size. He’s one of the biggest guys I’ve seen in a long, long time. When you have that athleticism, and you have that size, you’ve got a shot. We’re not going to be too quick to judge him, we just want to see him go out there and compete.”

Pat Lewandowski, Jr., Offensive Lineman
On his switch from offense to defense…
“Defense to offense was definitely a tough mentality change, especially the change in playbook. I had a full year to kind of learn the offensive side (playing left tackle), which was good. From that, moving from left tackle to center really wasn’t a huge mental change, because I already understood the playbook and schemes. Then it came down to the snaps, which was tough at the beginning, but once I got that down I’ve become more and more comfortable.”

On working with Jake Heaps…
“It’s been great. (Jake) Heaps is a great athlete, a great player, and a great quarterback. It’s been great hanging out with him off the field too, he’s a great guy. He’s a good morale guy that’s fun to be around and everyone loves him. On the field he’s a leader and he brings confidence.”

Ngalu Fusimalohi, Jr., Offensive Lineman
On his biggest improvement physically over the summer…
“Just getting into shape. I got stronger, my stamina improved. All the running we did really improved my speed too. Not only physically, but I feel I improved mentally too.”

On the competition of the offensive line…
“The competition has been great. We just have to go out there and make the best of it, see what we can do each and every day and get that unit as one.”

Damon Martin, So., Offensive Lineman
On offensive line progression…
“I think we have all come together. We’re closer this year, and we have all been training really hard. So we are all just moving along well as a group.”

On competition at the guard position…
“I think I’m putting in a lot of good competition, but all of our guards are pretty solid, even the freshmen. There’s a lot of competition between everybody.”

Mike Smithburg, Jr., Offensive Lineman
On the bond between offensive line…
“The biggest thing is with football, going through this grind with each other. I think that’s the biggest way to develop a bond as a brother. You turn into a family, people underestimate that, but that’s what really develops it.”

On the impact of Coach Tim Grunhard…
“He obviously knows what he’s doing, he’s been around a while, he’s been around the best. He rubs that off on us a lot and he expects us to be to that level and play hard every day and work.”

Aslam Sterling, Sr., Offensive Lineman
On being in better shape this season…
“I don’t think anybody thinks they’re that big until they see the before-and-after pictures. I look at the pictures now and I feel great about myself, I feel like I really accomplished something.”

On the offensive line’s inexperience and progression…
“We’ve still got some work to do, we’re real physical. I think that physicality helps us out with the lack of experience. I think we’re getting it together, it’s only the sixth day of practice. I feel by the end of the summer we will be a lot better.”

Tweetworthy

In the Pros
Former Kansas and current Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish was named the Gibson’s Finest CFL Offensive and Canadian Player of the Week for Week 7. Cornish ran for 175 yards on 16 carries and scored a career-high four touchdowns to help the Stampeders knock off the undefeated Roughriders, 42-27 at McMahon Stadium on Friday night.

The New Westminster, BC native was able to win the battle between the top rushers in the league against Saskatchewan’s Kory Sheets. After Cornish’s big game last week, he has racked up 676 yards along the ground this season and leads the league with seven rushing touchdowns.

Looking Ahead
On Friday, Kansas Athletics and the KU Alumni Association will join forces to host the family-friendly KU Kickoff pep rally presented by First National Bank at Corinth Square (83rd & Mission Road in Prairie Village, Kan.). Starting at 6 p.m., Kansas football head coach Charlie Weis, women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson and track and field coach Stanley Redwine, who was recently named National Coach of the Year, will each address the crowd.

Kansas will open the 2013 football season by hosting South Dakota on Saturday, Sept. 7 in Memorial Stadium. Game time is slated for 6 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by contacting the Kansas Ticket Office at 1-800-34-HAWKS or via the web at KUAthletics.com.

KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.