RCW: Sport Spotlight 4.2 (Football)

KANSAS WINS! #KUfball takes the season home-opener to kick off the season 1-0 #RockChalk pic.twitter.com/CJE7TYNUvh

— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) September 3, 2017

A post shared by Kansas Football (@kufootball) on Sep 2, 2017 at 7:06pm PDT

Kansas football raced out to an early 14-point lead in its season-opening win over Southeast Missouri State thanks in large part to a high-powered passing game. While junior quarterback Peyton Bender was impressive in his KU debut and junior wide receiver Steven Sims Jr., continued his dominant play from 2016, it was sophomore wide receiver Chase Harrell who found himself featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day.
 
On KU’s second offensive series of the game, Harrell first extended the drive by hauling in a nine-yard catch on fourth and one from the SEMO 25-yard line. Three plays later, Bender found Harrell on a fade route in the end zone. Harrell, who stands 6-foot-4, made a spectacular one-handed grab and secured the ball as he was falling to the ground. The catch gave the Jayhawks a two-score lead and boosted Harrell into the top-10 plays of the day.
 
“Before the year started, I knew I had to step up and make some plays,” Harrell said when he met with reporters following the win. “I know my team needs me.”
 
Count his teammate Bender as impressed, but not surprised.
 
“He does that every day at practice,” Bender said. “We were actually working on that route after practice last week. We probably threw 10 of those balls to him and half of them he caught one-handed, so it really didn’t surprise me. He does it all the time. Chase is a really talented receiver.”
 
Harrell went on to finish the game with just those two receptions for 17 yards, but that nine-yard reception was number eight among the most amazing plays of the day according to the Worldwide Leader in Sports.