Offensive lineman Spikes has big shoes to fill

Thursday, September 11, 2008

When Ed Warinner first traveled to Painesville, Ohio, and visited Harvey High School to meet with Jeff Spikes, the Illinois offensive line coach was decked out in Illini orange.

Spikes liked what Warinner had to say and was intrigued about possibly playing for him .

“Then, for like a month, I didn’t hear from him,” Spikes said.

Photo by Jon Goering

Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Jeff Spikes plays in Saturday's game against Louisiana Tech. Spikes was recruited by Ed Warinner to replace 2008 graduate Anthony Collins.

So the 6-foot-6, 314-pound Spikes decided to visit a few other schools and fell in love with Akron. As Spikes pondered whether Akron was the right place for him, his phone rang.

It was Warinner, who apologized for not contacting him for so long and told him that he was in the process of becoming a coach at Kansas. He then told Spikes that they had a scholarship to offer and wanted to know if he’d consider being a Jayhawk.

“He said he wanted me to come here,” Spikes said. “I came to a visit, I liked what I saw, I talked to my family and discussed it, and ended up being here. It was a blessing for me in disguise. God wanted me to end up here, and he led me to a wonderful place.”

Spikes was a redshirt last season — Warinner’s first as offensive coordinator at Kansas — and watched and learned from one of the best offensive tackles in Kansas history in first team All-American Anthony Collins. Collins is now in the NFL and it’s Spikes’ job to try to replace him.

“I always expected to be in a position to help my team, but it came faster than I thought,” Spikes said of his starting spot as a redshirt freshman. “But at the same time, I’m pretty prepared to step in and do what I need to do to help my team win.”

That will certainly be tougher Friday when he lines up against First-Team All-American defensive end George Selvie of South Florida, who led the nation in tackles for a loss last season and was second in sacks.

He has yet to record a sack and has only one tackle for a loss through the first two games of 2008 because of constant double- and even triple-teaming by opponents. Kansas coach Mark Mangino said he didn’t know how much they would focus on Selvie because he was confident that Spikes could handle the test.

“People play their best when they play against the best,” Mangino said. “Jeff is not going to back down from anybody. We have a lot of respect for Selvie, I think he’s outstanding. But Jeff is going to compete.”

The 6-foot-4, 242-pound Selvie had 5.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for a loss at this point last season, but he told reporters in Tampa last week that the bottom line was the number of wins in the win column and not his personal statistics.

“It’s been frustrating. Getting sacks was a big thing for me,” Selvie said. “But I learned the last couple of games it really doesn’t matter how many I get as long as we win. When teams show extra attention to me, other people are getting opportunities and making big plays. The bottom line: We are winning.”

In front of a national audience on ESPN2, Spikes will get the chance to line up and play in one of the biggest games of his career in only his second year in college. Had he not put his faith in Ed Warinner, everything would be different.

“He was honest and told me what it was going to be like,” Spikes said of Warinner. “Most coaches probably won’t be real with you. I felt like he was a good person that I could trust in.”

And as Kansas looks to have another record-breaking season in 2008, Todd Reesing and Jayhawk fans everywhere are glad he did.

— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes

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