Q & A: Part Deux

As promised, we have our second interview of the day and it was conducted with the new KUSports.com Online Editor, Jesse Newell. On account of my poor questioning it's slightly repetitive at the start, but picks up nicely. Thanks for the time, Jesse.

I believe I know you to be a Kansas graduate, but little else. Care to elaborate?
"Sure. I'm was born and raised in Emporia, a nice town that doesn't smell as bad as people say. I always liked sports, and in high school decided that sports journalism would be the way to go. I started writing for The Emporia Gazette my sophomore year of high school. During my time at KU, I also had stops at the University Daily Kansan, Topeka Capital-Journal and Lawrence Journal-World. After graduating from KU, I went back to The Gazette to cover Emporia State athletics two years before accepting the KUsports.com Online Editor position a few weeks ago."

How long have you been with the Journal World? If I'm remembering correctly, didn't you tryout for the basketball team a few years ago? If so, would you say a few words on that?
"I've been KUsports.com Editor for a week now. In college, I was a part-time writer for the LJW, and that's when I wrote the column series about walking on for the men's basketball team. Journal-World men's basketball beat writer Gary Bedore first asked me to consider trying out, and I just laughed at him. Then, the more I thought about it, the more it just seemed like the right thing to do. I'd been a KU basketball fan growing up, and I figured I'd never have another chance to do that. It turned out to be one of the most memorable things I've ever done."

[Ed. note: Very jealous]

When did you start as the KuSports.com Online Editor? What do you think of it so far?
"I actually started on Monday. So far, I'm just trying to learn everything on the fly. There's so much more to it than I thought -- plenty of computer programs to learn and items to update. I love it, though. It's been a lot of hours, but it doesn't feel like work."

I like your idea for the Sideline Report; how often can we expect similar features?
"There should be five total coming in the next few weeks that I did during media day. We'll space them out a little bit, but I would expect that those will run about twice a week. Media day is the perfect time to get those, as you can get a lot of athletes one-on-one. I'd like to keep those going during the season, but a lot will depend on access once the year starts."

Did you have any desire to replace Ryan Wood as the Kansas football beat reporter?
"I did have interest in Wood's job right before the KUsports.com Online Editor position opened up, but I'm really happy with how things turned out. Honestly, I think I'm better suited for the KUsports.com Online Editor spot with my previous experience. Also, I know people won't want to hear this, but Dugan really is a good guy. I know he made some people mad with his first blog and also his alma mater, but it's way too soon to start trying to throw him out of town. I know for a fact he's a great writer, and though not everyone understands it all the time, it is his job to be objective. It’s my job, too. I know I mentioned being a KU graduate in my first blog, but really, our alma maters shouldn’t have an effect on the way we cover KU sports. We both have jobs to do, and that job involves reporting, not cheering."

[Ed. note: Couldn't agree more. However, the first game is a mere three weeks away and we're not even getting one football story a day in the LJW. Come on now, I need my fix.]

Who is your favorite Kansas athlete of all time? Why?
"I'm guessing this means basketball, too? I would say Jacque Vaughn. He was everything a student-athlete should be. I remember wearing rubber bands on my wrist during rec-league games just to be like him. Raef LaFrentz and Nick Collison would be a close second and third, with Darnell Jackson not too far behind."

Which Kansas team is your all-time favorite? Why?
"In basketball, it was the '97 team. That team was impossible to not like. Vaughn, Haase, Pollard, LaFrentz and Pierce with Thomas off the bench -- talk about loaded.

In football, the 2005 team was a lot of fun to watch. That, to me, was a great season because it was when the Kansas players and fans first started to taste success. The Nebraska victory at home was a huge step for the program, and I still remember driving down to Fort Worth thinking that this whole bowl game thing was kind of fun."

Does Chase Daniel look more like a frog or a toad?
"I’ll ask Dugan and get back to you ..."

Is there a player on this Kansas team that you expect to break out this year?
"It's pretty tough to tell this early. After talking to him on media day, though, I would expect tight end A.J. Steward to be KU's latest converted-quarterback success story."

[Ed. note: Another Steward vote? Very interesting. Perhaps I should have added to him to our poll...]

We have gone on record as predicting a 10-3 season for this Kansas team (with a loss to OU in the Big XII Champ.); what are you predicting?
"I'll go with 8-4. It's easy after a 12-1 season to quickly overlook the Colorados and Kansas States and count them as wins this year, but my gut tells me that KU can't go two years in a row without losing via an upset. In my eyes, KU loses one it's "not supposed to," then splits its six "tough" games (at South Florida, at Oklahoma, Texas Tech, at Nebraska, Texas, Missouri)."

Finally, feel free to opine on anything else that you don't mind 6, or possibly 7 people reading.
"Mark it down now: Texas Tech will win the Big 12 South. You heard it here first."

[Ed. note: Agree to disagree]

Again, big thanks go out to KUSports.com Online Editor, Jesse Newell, for taking the time to answer our questions. It should also be mentioned that in some correspondence with GingerBalls he promised pictures of the new hair trimmings of at least Darrell Stuckey and possibly Dezmon Briscoe as well.

Q & A Time

Since we here at KJ-IBT are such enterprising and obviously skilled, journalists, we decided do conduct a few interviews. The first of which was with the new Kansas football beat writer, Mr. Dugan Arnett. [Ed. note: Clearly Dugan likes me a bit more than Gingerballs as he would not respond to Ginger's inquiries. Fortunately, I was a bit more blessed. As you will see, he took the questions very seriously, and for that, we thank him endlessly.]

Being a graduate of that University to the east, what brings you to the LJW?
"To work as a spy, mostly. That's pretty much the only reason."

How has it gone so far?
"It's gone really well. All the kusports.com readers love me to death. They're all really respectful towards me and have wished me nothing but the best in my new position. I don't think I've gotten a negative comment since I started."

Who were you rooting for on April 7th?
"I only root for two teams: Any team that Brandon Jennings is playing for, and the Charlotte (Fla.) High School boys basketball team. Other than that, I have no allegiances."

Who is your favorite (and least) University of Kansas athlete of all-time? Why?
"Jim Ryun is easily my favorite, and probably always will be, because I was a runner in high school. I don't currently have a least favorite athlete, but if you check back with me in a couple months, that'll probably change."

What is your Win/Loss prediction for KU?
"I don't know if I should answer this question."

What player will surprise fans the most this year?
"I think it will be A.J. Steward. This is completely a gut-feeling, with no evidence to support it whatsoever. But I think he has a good chance to become the team's No. 1 tight end this year, and I think he has the body and skill set to do some amazing things from the position. The KU players also voted receiver Johnathan Wilson as the most likely to surprise people in 2008, so I'm going to throw him on there, too."

[Ed. note: I absolutely love both of these answers. One is out on a limb and one comes from his access, but both have enormous potential.]

Does Chase Daniel look more like a frog or a toad?
"I think he looks kind of like a bassett hound."

[Ed. note: For some better insight to the guy QBing the Methzouri Tigers, click here. Stupendous!]

Do you embrace the idea of blogs/electronic media becoming the major
source of sports information for the common fan, or do you side with
Buzz Bissinger?
"No offense to the fine leaders of this blog, but I'm with Buzz on this one. Although I think blogs can sometimes be a good supplement to daily newspaper and magazine coverage, there's something to be said for being in the press box, being in the locker room, talking to players and coaches on a regular basis. That's a perspective that, in my opinion, blogs can't give you."

And lastly, what are your favorite sports blogs?
"With the exception of this one, I hate every sports blog ever created, including mine."

As we mentioned above, thanks go out to Dugan for taking his valuable time to answer our silly questions. We wanted to give our reader(s) a little bit more insight into the character that is covering our favorite football team and with his help, I believe, we did just that. Be sure to check back later today for another Q&A with another newly minted KUSports.com contributor.

Briscoe's Break Out

As some of you may remember, I posted a schedule prediction not too long ago. A collection of crazies to the east took it a bit more anarchistic than it was intended, but to each his own. What you may not remember is that the bottom of that post featured a dashing picture of one Dezmon Briscoe, he of the newly cut hair (Hopefully we'll be able to locate a picture of that before too long, as well as finding out who else is making this fashion statement).

Aside from his sweet new hairdo, we here at KJ-IBT are expecting big things from Dezmon and that's why he got the coveted picture slot at the bottom of such a controversial post. More specifically, we expect him to be the break out star of the 2008 season. Some may say that he doesn't qualify as he already put together one of the best freshman seasons in Kansas history for a receiver as he totaled 43 catches for 496 yards and 7 touchdowns. Only 3 others had more catches (and 2 are in the NFL), only 2 had more yards (1) and only 1 had more touchdowns (gone), so it's not like he'll be coming out of nowhere. Bear with me anyhow.

You can't really pinpoint any one person outside of Todd that was THE breakout player last year. But anyone who went to the Spring game knew that for KU to be successful Marcus Henry was going to have to make a difference. And what a difference he made, finishing with 54 catches for 1014 yards and 10 TDs. Finally, that speed and height were put to good use. This year, Dezmon needs to be Marcus Henry.

What about Dexton Fields, you ask? You're right, Dexton and his 63/864/6 return and will likely be bumped up to the #1 receiver slot. 'Lest we forget, over the last three games (ISU, MU, VT) Fields averaged 9 catches for 109 yards and a score. Throw in Kerry Meier, Jonathan Wilson and Rod Harris (?) and I'll easily concede that Briscoe doesn't necessarily need to put up Henry's numbers. But those 10 scores have to come from somewhere and I think Briscoe is the guy to take a handful of them. Marcus had the speed to beat his man, but more importantly he had the size to seal him off inside or go up and get a ball in the red zone. These are the things that Briscoe will need to do so that the offense doesn't find itself missing Marcus Henry.

What are your thoughts? Who else do you think needs to emerge?

P.S. The National Championship banner will be unveiled at Late Night on the Phog. Personally, I wish they had waited until the first game, but I can understand why this makes some sense as well. Also, someone needs to tell Andy Katz that neither Mario Little or Tyrone Appleton are freshmen.

10 More Years of Cutting Nets

After all the OSU caused distraction around Final Four time, some of you may have forgotten that Bill Self never officially signed a contract, though he agreed, in principle, to remain the coach for a long time.

Well, today that all became official as he signed a 10 year contract, paying him $3 million annually. Glad to have you aboard for the long haul, Bill. Here's to a lot more net cutting!

J-Mort is a bad man

Q: Share with me what sort of improvement you've made in coach Dawson's Strength & Conditioning program since January.

A: I had surgery in the offseason on my knee, and I definitely just tried to come back full strength. I think I have. I've passed the run test. I got one of the fastest times. As far as the competition in the offseason's gone, it's been the best I've ever seen. We have this hunger in us knowing we're going to be one of the best teams in the nation. We're just competing as hard as hell."

Ripped that excitingly awesome quote from Jesse Newell's Kansas Football Media Day session via KUsports.

Nice to hear J-Mort is has healed well and is looking forward to more on-field murder this year.

The World Wide Leader has the 'Hawks at number #21 in their power rankings. Everyone has a right to their opinions, some of them are just wrong.

If you don't read Tim Griffin's blog on ESPN atleast a couple times a day, you sir, are not a true fan.(or have a life) Couple of nice little links here and here. The former offers nice insight into Crawford's transition to the Big 12. I would be shocked if he didn't see the same amount of carries as Sharp by the time South Florida rolls around.

Last but not least...someone had to do this, it might as well be me...

Anderson Football Complex

Went by the open house at the brand spanking new Anderson Football Complex. I haven't seen many programs football facilities, but this has to be one of the nicest in the nation, it was glorious. New is best in recruiting these days. Also a few pictures of 'Gino, don't know how well you can tell from the shots, but he has lost a fair amount of weight(a lot to go though). See the rest here.

Rock Chalk

A Rebuttal

As was pointed out in our previous post, thanks go out to Tim Griffin for including us in his wonderful blog over at ESPN. There are some good links over there this morning, as well as a pretty good post about whether or not Colorado deserved their national title in 1990 (of course not, but you have to love the 5th down). In response to those commenters from yesterdays post, I want to apologize.

I truly am sorry for having the audacity to suggest that Kansas could put together a 10 win season. Even more so, I would like to apologize for even toying with the notion that they could possibly beat the mighty Methzouri Tigers just one year after they lost by a touchdown to said team. Both were truly irreprehensible acts against humanity and I feel much better having you all put me in my rightful place. I do only possess the brain of a standard third grader (after all, I am a born Kansan), but I did not realize it until you all articulated it so eloquently. Had I known our fair blog was going to be graced with such astute intellectuals as yourselves, I would have never even attempted putting together such a piece. In fact, if I thought you would be coming back I would probably have to just resign my post and keep to myself. But since it is unlikely that any of you would lower yourself to our level with any regularity, I'll go ahead and throw out a defense for us small-minded people from the Sunflower State.

First things first. It's July. Had I told you at this time last year that South Florida (or Kansas) would ever rise to #2 in the rankings you may have reacted even more fervently than you did about this anarchy. Whereas I used the word may there, I will absolutely, 100% guarantee that none of you would have even entertained the idea that Kansas could go 12-1, even with such a cushy schedule (albeit one extremely similar to Methzouri).

Hindsight is 20/20. I realize that just as well as anyone, but no one was making any noise about how Kansas was likely to have a good year because they had a soft schedule at this time last year.

During the non-conference all anyone said was, "Wait until they have to play K-State (a team that had just won in Austin), then they'll surely lose."

And when they won in Manhattan, all anyone said was, "But they haven't even left the state yet. Wait until they go to Colorado (where OU had just lost) – then they'll surely lose."

And when that didn't happen all anyone said was, "Just wait until they have to play in the hostile environment at Kyle Field (where Texas lost) – there's no way they can handle that."

And when that didn't happen, they all said, "Wait until they have to play in primetime in Stillwater (where Tech lost). They won't be able to handle that."

And when that didn't happen, nobody really knew what to say except that the only reason they had done all of this was because of their soft schedule. And then they lost to Methzouri and everyone's "schedule attributions" were confirmed. That is, until they beat Virginia tech in Miami.

Look, I'll be the first to admit that last season almost assuredly wouldn't have happened with this year's schedule. But quite obviously, I'm not suggesting it will either. I'm simply suggesting that even with a much tougher slate that a 10-3 record is attainable, if not optimistic. If you can truly go through it and determine (in July, mind you) that I am unequivocally, without a doubt, 100% wrong more power to you. For those of you that aren't so sure though, keep on reading…

@ South Florida – As I said yesterday, I think this is an enormous game and I definitely won't be surprised to see the Hawks come home 2-1. But I also know that the Bulls do not return any of their cornerbacks and consistently have a lot of trouble stopping anything other than a speed running game, so I certainly think Kansas has the ability to win this game as well.

@ ISU and v. Colorado and @ Oklahoma – I don't think many people will argue with these, although I could see both the former being tough games. And as I predicted yesterday, I'm thinking of the latter as a loss.

V. Texas Tech – I realize that everyone is really high on Tech right now. And perhaps that is deservedly so. However, the only reason anyone expects them to take this leap is on account of their defense returning 10 starters. Maybe I'm wrong and they really will be great, but I'm going to have to see it to believe it. And beyond that, this team lost at home to Colorado last year. Are we really ready to say that there is no feasible way Kansas can beat them in Lawrence?

V. KSU – Again, I doubt I have a whole lot of disagreement here, even with Josh Freeman lining up on the opposite side.

@ Nebraska – I actually got more criticism here for suggesting that the same team could lose @ Nebraska and beat Methzouri in the same season. Because that's never happened before. It's not like either Kansas or Methzou has gone winless in Lincoln since the sixties or anything. In all honesty, though, clearly times have changed. And I will absolutely not be surprised if Kansas wins @ Nebraska and loses to Methzou. But on the other hand, on paper it doesn't make a lot of sense how Oklahoma beat Methzou by a combined 31 points, only to lose to Colorado and Tech (two teams Methzou destroyed). If the favorite won every game I sure would enjoy college football a whole lot less…

V. Texas – Similar to my Tech debate (and all of these, for that matter), I don't know what's going to happen here. But I do know that in 2004 when Kansas went a putrid 4-7, they had VY and Texas on the ropes and could have easily won the game had a few things gone differently. Of course they didn't and there are no excuses for that, but none of that matters. Given that it's July and we don't know exactly how much of a difference Muschamp will have or how Colt and/or Chiles will perform at QB it's hard to say how this Texas team will compare to that 2004 team, or even last year's squad, for that matter. But I can tell you one thing; this Kansas team will be a whole lot better than the one they fielded in 2004, so I certainly won't be stunned if they beat the Longhorns in Lawrence.

V. Methzou @ Arrowhead – Since I likely wouldn't have received much of a response without suggesting this blasphemy, this is probably the one I need to defend the most. However, I don't see much of a reason to do so. If the point hasn't been made by now, a few more sentences are unlikely to push it over the top. But I will say that I wholeheartedly think Methzou is the team to beat in the north. Daniel, Maclin and Coffman can put together one hell of an offense, even without getting much from the other 8 on the field. Defensively, I think William Moore is one of the more under-rated players in the country. And the unit may be even better than they were a year ago – which, by the way, they'll need to be to have a chance at attaining the goals they've set. But even with all of that being true, they sure as hell aren't going to be any more bulletproof than a handful teams from last year: USC (to Stanford), LSU (to Kentucky and Arkansas), Georgia (to South Carolina), aOSU (to Illinois) or even Michigan (to Appy State) come to mind. So to suggest that a team like Kansas has no shot to beat them a full four month's in advance seems a little presumptuous to me.

Also, just food for thought, but to say that both teams have been mired in mediocrity for a while is probably being a bit too kind. If last year was any indication, they each have turned the corner and possibly made this rivalry relevant somewhere other than the middle of the country. However, even as pitiful as Kansas has been over the last two decades, I found these numbers interesting…

Head-to-head - KU:11 - MU:9
Bowl Record – KU: 4-1 MU:3-3

So in an attempt the keep things semi-relevant, over the past 20 years Kansas holds the lead in head-to-head victories and has more bowl wins. Since you all like to point to the fact that Kansas has only had one good season (I won't even argue all that zealously), it's worth noting that even in that time they have managed to out-do their counterparts to the east.