Thursday, July 24, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A lot of people want to talk to senior linebacker Mike Rivera lately.
Kansas fans occasionally inquire about the Jayhawks’ upcoming football season or his team-high 12 tackles in last year’s Orange Bowl. But Rivera hears one question more than anything else.
“They always ask, ‘how’s that quarterback?’” Rivera said.
The media members who attended Big 12 Media Days Tuesday were no different. They wanted to know about junior quarterback Todd Reesing too.
Reesing, Rivera, junior safety Darrell Stuckey and coach Mark Mangino represented the Jayhawks at the downtown Marriott and spoke to the media for the first time this season.
Reesing was the main attraction. Reporters from across the country surrounded Reesing and listened diligently to every word he spoke for 20 minutes. He talked about everything from his love for dancing to his relationship with Mangino. Dealing with his newfound celebrity status also came up.
“It hasn’t been too bad,” Reesing said. “Living in Lawrence, it’s a small town.”
Reesing described himself as ‘just one of the 50,000 people on Mass. Street after the national championship’. But clearly, Reesing is more than an economics student from Texas to Jayhawk fans.
Not anyone can throw the football for more than 3,400 yards and break 21 school records in one season as the starting quarterback like Reesing did.
He led the Jayhawks to an improbable 12-1 season and a ranking as high as No. 2 in the nation. Mangino said the success made Reesing one of the most popular guys around.
“Everybody in Lawrence, Kansas wants to say they know him and they pal around with him and he’s their buddy,” Mangino said. “He’s been invited to about everywhere.”
Except the Big 12 Championship Game. Reesing and the Jayhawks fell one game short last year of competing for their first ever conference championship by losing to Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium.
Don’t think Reesing has forgotten that feeling. Don’t think he hasn’t seen the Big 12 Preseason Media Poll, in which Missouri was a unanimous selection to win the Big 12 North.
“Last year, I think we were predicted to finish fifth in the North,” Reesing said. “We did a little better than that.”
It’s one of the reasons Reesing says he still has a lot to prove this season. He thinks he can become a better leader. Mangino said if Reesing wanted to achieve that goal he needed to continue to zone out all the hype revolving around his junior season.
Because Mangino knows that the more praise his quarterback receives now, the more criticism he’ll get after one poor game.
Rivera isn’t worried about his team’s quarterback. When someone asks him about Reesing, he isn’t afraid to share his true feelings.
“He always likes to be in the spotlight but he handles it well,” Rivera said. “He’s confident but humble at the same time – that’s what you want in a quarterback.”
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