Monday, August 25, 2008
Mark Mangino has coached in the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, and even the Fiesta Bowl. But one game in particular worries him more than any – the first one.
As the Jayhawks prepare to open the season this Saturday against Florida International, Mangino is beginning to sleep less at night knowing that the season opener is just five days away.
“I’ve said it before, the first game makes me more uneasy than any other game of the year,” Mangino said. “Even more than a bowl game or a championship game.”
Mangino and his staff don’t have any 2008 film on FIU but they will surely dig into last years box to find tape on the Golden Panthers – including the 55-3 trouncing by the Jayhawks in Lawrence. FIU was 1-11 last year, but don’t tell that to coach.
“The first game is always the toughest in terms of knowing what you have,” Mangino said. “There’s no preseason games in college football, no exhibition games or preseason scrimmages. You line up and play for keeps from day one. And you really have to make sure that you have the right people in the right spots. The first game is always a challenge.”
At a Friday pep rally in Prairie Village, Mangino also talked about one of the best position battles going into camp, the punt returner spot. The battle seems to have been decided, but Mangino wasn’t quite ready to announce who has come out on top.
“There’s probably a guy in my mind that will be the returner,” Mangino said. “But I want to keep competition at that position because you need more than one of those guys, and I want to just keep it going and keep it competitive. I really haven’t named anybody but I have a pretty good idea of who it will be.”
Mangino also said that nothing had changed regarding the eligibility of kicker Jacob Branstetter. Branstetter appears to be five credits short of being eligible stemming from his transfer from the Air Force Academy, but his parents submitted paperwork to the NCAA to try to get him cleared to play.
“We’ll be fine at that position. I’m not concerned at all,” Mangino said of a kicking corps that also lost potential starter Stephen Hoge who transferred last week. “In fact, I think we’ve improved ourselves in the last few days. I’m not going to name anybody at this point in time because I want to stay open-minded about it. I want to continue the competition.”
Even after four weeks of intense practices, Mangino knows that the team still has some unfinished business that it needs to take care of before the clock hits 6 p.m. on Saturday.
“We have work that needs to be done,” Mangino said. “We have a week before our first game and we need every practice, I don’t think we’re a finished product by any stretch. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of areas to improve. We’re moving in the right direction.”
Players have been waiting for Saturday’s game to come since the end of last season. But add in hot two-a-day practices and a four-week training camp, and kickoff can’t come any sooner.
“We’re ready,” said defensive tackle Jamal Greene. “We’re just waiting and counting down the days.”
— - Edited by Adam Mowder
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