2017 Spring Game Saturday April 15 at 1 PM
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I hope everyone will start this football season with me on April 15 in Memorial Stadium. I can’t think of a better way to spend a spring afternoon. We’ll get our first look at Peyton Bender, Daylon Charlot and many others. I like that Beaty structures the spring game like a regulation game and doesn’t use it as a final practice. Expectations amongst posters here vary on this season, but all things are possible this early. I can’t wait to see the pig skin fly around Memorial Stadium. RCJH
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Now that spring break is almost over, the squad will get back to spring practice. Finally, we will get some news from the Lawrence Journal World about spring ball. I really enjoyed the first reports by Benton Smith and Tom Keegan. I’m keeping Saturday, April 15 open for a trip to Lawrence.
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I think I’m going to try to make it myself. I want to see the QBs.
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I don’t know who thought it was a good ideal to schedule the spring game for Easter weekend. But, I’m going to attend just to be at the start of our breakout season. RCJH
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3-4 wins would meet my expectations, less is unacceptable, more would be fantastic. Being bowl eligible this year would be a wet dream.
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@stoptheflop Spring game has historically been mid-April and since Easter moves around between April and March, it occasionally happens Easter weekend.
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I like Coach Beaty’s idea of the player draft. Peyton Bender on team Jayhawks sure seems to be paired with our best receivers, Sims, Gonzalez and Charlot. But, Bender will face our better defenders. Ninety percent of my focus today will be on the quarterback play. We have the athletes. We have all the components we need to win. We just need a steady, consistent QB, who doesn’t commit TO’s that lead to easy points for our opponent. This is going to be really fun to watch. RCJH
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@stoptheflop if u can’t go it’s on ESPN 3 or cox 22
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Feeling like it might rain here.
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@Crimsonorblue22 I’ve already got it set to record. My wife and I have decided to forgo a couple of Easter events and go to the game. Jeez, I wish the weather was better.
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Hope you have fun, I’ll be inside hiding from the weather. If possible maybe post some thoughts/updates?
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@BShark you watching! Sims, charlot, lee, both qbs decent
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Harrell w/great catch! Great throws. Lee killed schadler-kid from hesston
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I didn’t catch the beginning of the broadcast, why didn’t Quiv play today?
Also, I think it’s telling about the QB situation that Bender was paired up with Sims and Charlot and what appeared to be mostly the 1’s on offense. I think Bender is going to be the QB next season. Bender made some great throws today that Stanley just isn’t capable of making because of his arm strength. I was also impressed with the secondary.
Based on today, I really wouldn’t be too shocked to see KU get to 6-6. 3-0 in nonconference which will end the road losing streak and the bottom of the Big 12 is weak enough for KU to get 3 more wins. It may not happen this year, but this team as is can get to a bowl game in 2017.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I agree, besides the secondary but its also hard to tell with the teams split up in a draft manor and not a first and second team manor. I think we should do the spring game like other schools and make the first team go against the second team so maybe they can score and have excitement, it was a boring game IMO outside of about 6 plays.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 quiv did play. Did you see lees hit?
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I enjoyed it!
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The spring football game was fun, windy but still fun. It was very difficult/nearly impossible to throw the ball going into the south wind. Some of Stanley’s short passes were due to the wind.
My first impression is that Bender will start. I expected more offense and more scoring, but maybe it’s true that it’s difficult to score on your own defense. Second, we ran way more times than I thought an air attack allowed. Our offensive line has plenty of work to do, but maybe being split up caused some of their blocking problems. Next year, it makes better sense for the lines to be drafted as units rather than as individuals. Mike Lee is special, but hey Mike, it’s a spring game and the receivers are your teammates.
Our receivers are a special group. It’s going to be very competitive for players to get snaps. I really expected more passing in this game and way fewer rushes. Starks sure has an arm. But, he looked lost on a number of plays. So did Stanley.
The attendance was minimal, but those around me were very knowledgeable about our players. Only about 200 students were on the east side. The west side had a couple of thousand, maybe. The athletic department needs to make the spring game a party: give stuff away, etc. Why not offer some free tickets for the upcoming games. Make it fun and the fans will come. I hope the players don’t feel let down by the poor attendance. 2018 verbal comit, Clayton Tune’s parents sat near me. He’s a QB from Texas. All-in-all a fun afternoon.
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@Crimsonorblue22 I saw the hit Lee had on Schadler that jarred a catch loose, didn’t see him hit Quiv, but I also missed most of the 1st quarter so if the hit happened then, then I definitely missed it.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 just meant quiv played, not lee hit him.
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@stoptheflop Tune may end up being tough to keep if he has a good senior season and the big dogs in the Big 12 and SEC come calling. Glad his parents were there which makes me a little more optimistic about KU keeping him.
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@stoptheflop I think it looks like fun with letting the kid have time to practice with the players, the inflatables etc. I really liked the fans that got picked to call plays. I really hope everyone can get to some games this year. We competed really well at home last year even in our loses, thats what makes me want to come. Tho being a KU football fan for the last 20 years I’ve sat thru some beat downs. My first game in that stadium was 01 vs OU and it got nasty fast. We went thru my high school FCA and it was free so that was good. But even in the early 00’s we had hardly any fans in the stands. We went the next year to the A&M game and they sucked too, so we pretty much could’ve sat anywhere in the place. Outside of the 08 game I went to the place has been half full every other time, even early in 07. I hate it for the players we have to be better fans end of story. @Texas-Hawk-10 sign off says it all. I’ve been to baseball, volleyball, MBB, WBB, softball and football games. If your a fan of KU support them all!
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Many thanks to Crimson for the stats. Those are very helpful and show just how many receivers we have who will make plays for us this year. The no contact rule on the QB’s makes sense, but I sure thought the refs saw some phantom touches and stopped plays too early.
I was rooting for the offense on every play and probably overlooked the defensive efforts throughout the game. We must improve on offense to become competitive. I was especially focused on the third down plays. Sadly, I didn’t see any improvement there. On defense, the only mistake I saw was the receiver getting 5 yards behind the defense on Starks’s TD pass. Otherwise, all the receivers were well covered and pass completions were hard to come by.
Finally, if the offensive stats are underwhelming to you keep in mind the game was very short due to the running clock. The game was over in less than 2 hours and the teams took a normal amount of time for half time. Kansas football in April is great. Now, I’m looking forward to Kansas basketball in August. RCJH
