Monday, November 3, 2008
Jake Sharp stepped up to the starting line, settled into position and waited for the snap. Once he saw the ball move, the junior running back fired out of his stance and sprinted through the middle, down the sidelines and everywhere in between.
A track star at Salina Central, Sharp’s Saturday was a throwback to his days as a Mustang. Sharp staged a personal track meet in Memorial Stadium and sliced the Kansas State defense for 257 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns.
Junior running back Jake Sharp leaps over a Kansas State defender during the Jayhawks' 52-21 victory over the Wildcats Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Sharp rushed 181 yards on 21 carries throughout the game, and tied the KU single-game record with four touchdowns. The game also represented a redemptive weekend for the Jayhawks, rebounding from two demoralizing losses against Oklahoma and Texas Tech, who defeated the 'Hawks 63-21 during Kansas' homecoming.
Sharp said he hasn’t put up numbers like that since high school, and they were crucial in the Jayhawks’ 52-21 victory over the Wildcats. Kansas (6-3, 3-2) is now bowl eligible and has a good chance to make consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history.
Back in Salina Friday night, Sharp’s younger brother, Cale, eclipsed 1,000 yards for the season and helped the Mustangs reach their 17th straight playoffs.
“I guess it’s good to be the mom and pop of the Sharp boys today,” Sharp said.
No doubt, but Kansas’ victory wasn’t a one-man show. The offensive line was opening gaping holes for its undersized back to speed through, and he said they were the reason for Saturday’s success.
“The offensive line deserves a ton of credit,” Sharp said. “They were moving guys right and left, making big creases in the run game. Everything came together well for us.”
Like Sharp, coach Mark Mangino said the rushing success started up front.
“I thought our offensive line, for the first time, everybody was hitting on all cylinders,” he said.
Mangino said he and his staff noticed that Kansas State’s defense liked to drop players back into coverage to protect against the pass. He said if the Wildcats stayed with that philosophy on Saturday then the Jayhawks would have success running the ball.
They did, so they did.
Senior center Ryan Cantrell said he couldn’t believe how quickly Kansas racked up the rushing yards. Still, he wasn’t satisfied with the season high 280 yards that the Jayhawks settled at.
“I wanted 300,” he said.
Cantrell was still amped up after the game, but he drew blanks when asked what the difference was for his unit on Saturday. He said the continuing growth of freshmen tackles Jeff Spikes and Jeremiah Hatch were important, but eventually he could only point to No. 1.
“Jake ran his butt off today,” Cantrell said. “He shows that sometimes in practice, but I’ve never seen him do it throughout an entire game like he did. He proved to everybody that he’s the man.”
To hear them tell it, Kivisto Field was the proving ground for a lot of people on Saturday. Mangino said Sharp’s performance silenced the critics who said the 5-foot-10, 190-pound speedster couldn’t be a D-I tailback. Cantrell echoed that sentiment and said you can’t argue with Sharp’s stats.
For his part, Sharp said the offensive line was vindicated by its dominating performance. He heard people say that the unit wasn’t good enough, but said those people would be “foolish” to talk that way now.
“Obviously, that’s been put to rest,” Sharp said.
It surely has, for this week at least.
— — Edited by Ramsey Cox
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