Who Will Carry the Rock?

There have been a lot of changes at running back since the Jayhawks last played a football game. Jocques Crawford has left the team and Angus Quigley has moved to linebacker. Those were the two main backups to Jake Sharp last season.

Sharp is back and there is no doubt in my mind that barring injuries he will have his best season as a Jayhawk. Yet no back can handle all the carries. Heck, Jake averaged just over 14 carries a game last season. That leaves probably another 14 or so per game to be divided amongst the rest of the backs. Todd Reesing will probably have a few keepers, but there has to be another running back to tote the ball 8-10 times a game.

Let's go over the next four backs on the roster and see who might have what it takes.

Rell Lewis was a wide received in his freshman season and has been converted to a running back. He is 5' 10" and 201 pounds, so not too much different than Sharp. I wasn't able to watch the spring game, but Lewis was supposedly very impressive with 14 carries for 66 yards. That doesn't sound great, but I'll take the word of those in attendance that he had a great day.

Freshman Deshaun Sands is an even smaller back at 5' 9" and 182. He had a great season last year in high school and he has a great Jayhawk pedigree being the son of "Tuxedo" Tony Sands, KU's second all-time leading rusher.

True freshman Tobum Opurum is 6' 2" and 229 pounds. His size compares nicely to that of recent star Brandon McAnderson. Supposedly he has been working really hard this summer so he could be even bigger by the time the first game rolls around. Sharp claims he is the fastest player on the team. Plus he can catch and block. While he has the size of a fullback, he definitely wants to carry the ball.

Daniel Porter is a junior who transferred in from the College of San Mateo. He is 6' 0" and 195 pounds. Crawford was a superstar in junior college and he just didn't play as well as hoped when he got to the Jayhawks. Some fans feel Porter is a real sleeper who can give the Jayhawks good production.

Going into training camp, Lewis has to be considered the backup based on his experience and his success in the spring game. The questions he needs to answer for me is whether he can help protect Reesing and can he catch the ball out of the backfield? As a former receiver, I'm not too worried about catching the ball. My guess is that he can be a good enough blocker to get a lot of snaps this season.

Unless there are injuries, I think there is only room for one more back to get regular playing time. If I had to pick one of the other three, I'd pick Opurum since he would be a nice change to the smaller backs. In fact, I have a good feeling that by the end of the season he could be second on the depth chart behind Sharp. I wouldn't even be surprised to see a few two back sets featured both Sharp and Opurum.

We'll all find out when September rolls around and the Jayhawks take the field. Who do you think will be sharing carries with Jake Sharp this season?

The Perception of Coaches

In the whirlwind of coaching changes this past spring, I found some of the comments about coaches to be quite interesting. As John Calipari was the biggest name to switch schools, I'll use him as an example.

Calipari was the coach of the Memphis Tigers through the end of the season. I'm guessing that if a poll of Kentucky fans were taken in mid-March, the majority would have felt that Calipari bends the rules to get the best recruits. I don't know him or his recruits so I honestly couldn't say what he does or doesn't do. This is simply about the perception of the fans. If a similar poll had been taken of Memphis fans, he would probably have been exonerated by the majority.

Now fast forward a month. Calipari leaves Memphis for a huge payday at Kentucky. Many of the big-name recruits also decided to leave Memphis. Soon after he took the job at Kentucky, there were allegations of wrongdoing at Memphis. When reading the comments that followed the numerous stories, the Kentucky fans were his biggest supporters. He would never do anything wrong and nothing bad would ever happen at Kentucky. Of course the Memphis fans were venting about how he destroyed their program with his wrongdoing.

Now I'm a Kansas fan so I definitely find some amusement watching this all play out from a distance. Yet I understand the feelings all too well. I was a huge Roy Williams fan. That is until he took the job at North Carolina. While it helped to beat William's Tarheels in the 2008 Final Four, I doubt I will ever cheer for his teams in the near future.

As for Calipari, there have been some frustrating moments when he has gotten a top recruit that I would have loved to see on the court for the Jayhawks. Yet his teams have played the Jayhawks twice and have lost both times. The first game was when KU beat #1 ranked UMass in the Wooden Classic and the most recent was in the Championship game of the 2008 Final Four over his favored Memphis Tigers. So as long as we keep beating him on the court, I won't dislike him too much. That can certainly change so stay tuned for the upcoming season to see what happens.