Thursday, September 18, 2008
Marcus Herford now knows what it feels like to have a target on his back.
After being voted Big 12Special Teams Player of the Year a season ago by the league’s coaches, teams are doing whatever they can to limit Herford’s returns. That means directional kicks and short kicks, which have kept Herford’s numbers well below average and have given the Jayhawks poor field position.
Senior wide receiver Marcus Herford (13) runs out of the tunnel with teammates before the Louisiana Tech game. Herford has had a slow start to the season this year after being named the BIg 12 SPecial Teams Player of the Year in 2007.
“Teams have done a great job of preparing for what we do,” Herford said. “They are doing different things and we just have to adjust. That’s on us. We have to adjust.”
Herford averaged 28.6 yards per return last year but has averaged just 9.3 yards in 2008. His longest return of the season has been only 14 yards.
“It’s pretty frustrating looking at my average,” Herford said. “But at the same time, I’ve gotten pretty much limited opportunities with the type of kicks that have been kicked back there.”
While coach Mark Mangino was quick to point out that teams are indeed mixing up their kicks and making it difficult, he stressed that Herford needed to pick up his game.
“Marcus has to do a better job of hitting it quicker and getting it up field,” Mangino said. “He has to be able to adjust to the fact that people are directional kicking and short kicking him.”
Even though teams are kicking the ball near the sidelines and doing everything possible to keep Herford from breaking a big return, Mangino has not been pleased with how the unit as a whole has played.
“It should not be that bad,” Mangino said. “I don’t care how they are kicking the ball or what they are doing, we should be better. We have to get that corrected and we will.”
FIELDS’ STATUS
Wide receiver Dexton Fields, who has been out since injuring his foot in the first game of the season, practiced on Wednesday but remains day-to-day. It makes sense to keep Fields out with the bye week coming up but Mangino said after Wednesday’s practice that there was a chance he could play.
“I don’t know,” Mangino said. “We will wait up until Saturday probably, but we have to be smart about it.”
SELLOUT
KU athletics officials announced on Wednesday that Saturday’s game against Sam Houston State has been officially sold out. It is the second sellout of the season and puts the Jayhawks on pace for a record-breaking year of attendance.
“I think it’s great,” Mangino said of the sellout. “Our kids are loyal. They know that when they come out to see our kids play, they are going to play until the very end and play their tails off. I think our fans appreciate that.”
— — Edited by Scott Toland
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