Posted: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:57 AM - 7,261 Readers
By: Randy Riggs
Mark Mangino gave it a shot, but eventually capitulated.
The Kansas coach was trying to remember all the players who rode his quarterback carousel in the BTR — Before Todd Reesing — era of Jayhawks football.
After several false starts, he waved the white flag.
"I can't even tell you," Mangino finally admitted.
That's one of many reasons Mangino appreciates Reesing, the former Lake Travis High School star who found a home at Kansas after many other schools were scared away by his lack of height. He has allowed Mangino to finally pack away the carousel — at least until he graduates.
"What Todd has brought to us is stability at that position," Mangino said. "Not only stability, but excellence."
Oh yeah, there's also that.
photo by Deborah Cannon
Since coming off the bench in the ninth game of his freshman year in 2006 to rally Kansas to a 20-15 victory over Colorado, Reesing has been a rock for the Hawks. He already owns 26 school passing records in little more than two years as a starter.
With Reesing as the starter, the Jayhawks have achieved several significant milestones. They have yet to win a Big 12 North title — this season they're picked a close second behind Nebraska — but they have appeared in bowl games in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.
Not only that, they've won them — 24-21 over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl after the 2007 season; and 56-21 over Minnesota in the 2008 Insight Bowl. Reesing threw for a touchdown and ran for the clinching score against Virginia Tech, and he blitzed Minnesota by completing 27 of 35 passes for 313 yards and four touchdowns.
"We want to get to three bowl games in a row, and hopefully win three bowls in a row," Reesing said. "There's a lot to accomplish, still."
For a school better known for basketball, Kansas' football accomplishments with Reesing at quarterback are noteworthy. The Jayhawks have won 20 games over the past two seasons, one more than they managed in Mangino's first four years as coach.
Reesing deflects — or at least shares — the credit, though.
"I've played my role," he said simply. "Everything I've accomplished is a tribute to all the guys around me. I wouldn't have had the success I've had without a lot of great teammates and a lot of good coaches calling a lot of good plays. We've all left our mark."
But a North Division title remains agonizingly elusive. While Mangino has steadily built the program, in no small part because of the stability Reesing has brought to the most important position on the field, KU's eighth-year coach knows much more work remains.
"We talk about the improvement we're making, and it's been great. We're proud of it and we're proud of our players," Mangino said. "But we want to be a team that can compete with everybody and win this league someday."
With Reesing, the Jayhawks are close. It's a scenario Mangino probably would not have predicted when Reesing and his father, Steve, knocked on his door in 2005.
After throwing for 3,340 yards and 41 touchdowns en route to earning Central Texas player of the year honors as a senior at Lake Travis, Reesing was largely ignored by most traditional football powers.
It wasn't because of his academics — he graduated in the top 1 percent of his Lake Travis class, and is a double-major at KU in economics and finance — but rather the numbers Reesing can't control. At his listed height of 5 feet, 11 inches, his size was a deal-breaker to many coaches.
Mangino also had some misgivings about Reesing's height. But the quarterback's other qualities trumped his concerns.
"He really had this swagger about him. I just liked him," Mangino said. "There was something that exuded confidence. He was just like a stick of dynamite."
Mangino added that on rare occasions, that swagger has gotten Reesing into trouble — "We have to reel him back in a little bit" — but that Reesing, and Kansas, wouldn't be where they are without his nerve.
And where they are is in position to challenge for a North Division championship.
"That's something I'd love the opportunity to accomplish," Reesing said.
The Jayhawks aren't betting against their feisty senior.
"He believes in himself, that he can make a play when there's not one," Mangino said. "It kind of reflects his personality. Todd always thinks he can overcome."
So far, he has.
