Tuesday, September 23, 2008
An injury to a starter means an opportunity to a reserve.
How much they make of that situation is up to them, and in Kansas’ secondary there’s some young players dealing differently with the glare of the spotlight.
When senior cornerback Kendrick Harper went down with a neck injury in week two, coach Mark Mangino called freshman Isiah Barfield’s number.
Freshman cornerback Corrigan Powell joins junior safety Justin Thornton for a tackle during Saturday's game against Sam Houston State at Memorial Stadium. Powell wasn't the only freshman at the cornerback spot -- he and freshmen Isiah Barfield and Ryan Murphy all saw playing time against the Bearkats, rotating as replacements for an injured Kendrick Harper.
Barfield performed ably in that 29-0 victory over Louisiana Tech, but the following week he looked over-matched against the speedy South Florida wide receivers.
One minute into the fourth quarter, Bulls receiver A.J. Love burned past Barfield for a 37-yard touchdown that put them up 31-20.
Against Sam Houston State on Saturday, Mangino gave Barfield his second career start — only this time he kept the leash much shorter and used three different freshmen at the cornerback position opposite of sophomore Chris Harris.
Barfield, Ryan Murphy and Corrigan Powell all saw time at cornerback on Saturday. Barfield and Murphy both took redshirts for Kansas last year while Powell is straight out of Lakeview Centennial High School in Garland, Texas.
Harris is entrenched at his position, but Mangino said the other side is a constant battle for stability between the trio until Harper returns.
“I don’t mind going through growing pains, but we’ve got to be able to play some basic coverages with those young guys,” he said.
Without studying tape, Mangino said the only one of the three who had a firm grasp of the defense was Powell.
“Corrigan is not a big guy, but he seems to be the guy that, as a true freshman, is the most dependable right now,” Mangino said.
While he did surrender a big play, Mangino said Powell seemed to play better and better as the game went on. His play may have started better if Powell knew earlier in the week that he would play so much.
Powell said he found out right before the game that he’d see more than just a few cleanup minutes.
“It was a surprise,” Powell said. “I wasn’t even stretched. My legs were all cold and I wasn’t warmed up. After the second route I was pretty much in the zone.”
Powell admitted to feeling some nerves when he stepped on the field.
In the second quarter, he made a mistake and allowed a 28-yard pass that set up a Rhett Bomar rushing touchdown. The vertical route that beat him looks just as natural on the track surrounding Kivisto Field, as wide receiver Jason Madkins simply sprinted past him on a straight line.
All three of the young cornerbacks surrendered plays of at least 15 yards on that route.
“We can’t cut people loose,” Mangino said. “We can’t get beat on a vertical every time somebody runs a vertical.”
The Bearkats attacked the freshman corners with the route early and often. As a result, Mangino wasn’t pleased with the overall effort in the secondary and joked that he could have run to the coverage faster than his corners did.
Sam Houston State finished with 340 passing yards, but Kansas’ secondary did intercept the ball three times. Still, Mangino said his defense’s “average performance” in the 38-14 victory wouldn’t be enough in the conference season, which starts in two weeks at Iowa State.
“We’ve got to see about Kendrick, see if he’s going to be ready to go,” Mangino said. “If he is, that’d be great, but if not we’ve got to take a hard look at that position.”
— Edited by Rachel Burchfield
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