Davison: Football program shows lack of stars

Friday, April 27, 2007

It looks like Kansas will go another year without having a player drafted in the NFL draft. Yes, Jon Cornish might get selected in a late round (sixth or seventh), but it’s not likely. It might benefit Cornish to slip through the cracks, so he can sign as an undrafted free agent with whichever team wants him.

Last year, Charles Gordon and Charlton Keith went undrafted and both are currently on NFL rosters; Gordon is with the Minnesota Vikings and Keith recently signed with the Oakland Raiders. But, if Kansas goes two years without an NFL draft selection, red flags should be raised.

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This isn’t a knock on Cornish. He was the best player on the team last season and he deserves a lot of credit. But it’s hard to project him as a lock to play in the NFL. Cornish ran the 40-yard dash in 4.62 at the Scouting Combine and 4.51 at the Pro Day at Kansas. To cut it at the NFL as a special teams player, which is Cornish’s best shot, he needs to improve his speed. Experts have Cornish as a guy that is good, but not great, at a lot of things.

Funny, doesn’t that sound like coach Mark Mangino’s recruiting classes? He’ll get a few good, but never great, players.

Mangino has done a good job of finding diamond-in-the-rough players such as Gordon and cornerback Aqib Talib, but he hasn’t brought in high-profile recruits that would turn KU into an elite program. Entering year six of the Mangino era, it doesn’t seem likely he will, either. But, this wouldn’t have been a problem if a coaching change had been made when it should have — back in 2004.

In 2004, there were a lot of college football coaching changes — Steve Spurrier took the helm at South Carolina, Urban Meyer replaced Ron Zook at Florida and Charlie Weis went to Notre Dame, to name a few. It was similar to this year’s college basketball coaching carousel.

Mangino kept his job after a 4-7 season. The “best” 4-7 season in Kansas football history was what some fans called it. People were ecstatic that the Jayhawks were somewhat competitive and lost football games by one touchdown instead of three touchdowns like they were accustomed to in the Terry Allen era. Mangino got the pass because he took the team to a bowl game the year before, too. But this was the year Kansas could have brought in a well-respected coach and good recruiter — such as Zook.

Zook has coaching roots at Kansas, and Illinois isn’t more appealing than KU. Yes, Illinois has struggled so far under Zook, but look at the recruiting classes he has brought in the past two seasons. Zook’s last two classes, according to Scout.com, are No. 28 and No. 20. Mangino’s are No. 47, and No. 78.

Mangino has done a respectable job of getting KU competitive, but he clearly isn’t the coach that can take the football program to the next level. This season should have been a cakewalk — easy schedule without Oklahoma and Texas, weak Big 12 North. If KU didn’t blow the Toledo, Baylor, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State games, this team would be eyeing the Big 12 championship. But wait, shouldn’t we just be satisfied that the football team is “in” these games — just like in 2004?

Davison is an Overland Park senior in journalism.

— Edited by Kelly Lanigan

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