Print edition: 
LAWRENCE — Coaches considering the open coaching position at Kansas can now do so without factoring in the talents of the most prolific wide receiver in school history.
KU junior receiver Dezmon Briscoe announced Friday afternoon that he will forego his senior season and declare for the 2010 NFL Draft. Briscoe consulted newly-resigned KU coach Mark Mangino, wide receivers coach David Beaty and former KU cornerback Aqib Talib, all of whom agreed on one thing about Briscoe: There was nothing else he needed to prove in college football.
"He is easily the most talented player I have ever coached," Beaty said. Briscoe, a Dallas native, will leave Kansas owning the school's all-time receiving yardage record with 3,240 — good for fourth in Big 12 history.
"I feel like I'm blessed," Briscoe said. "I made it through three seasons injury free."
That Briscoe is on his way to playing professional football after just three seasons at KU is a testament to how much maturation can occur from years 17 to 20. Briscoe arrived on campus in the summer of 2007 as a 17-year-old not ready to live on his own.
Within months, he was arrested for shoplifting at Wal-Mart. Still, Briscoe's ability helped him become a starter as a freshman as the Jayhawks went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl.
Briscoe's sophomore season started slowly before he exploded for a school-record 269 yards at Oklahoma. Of course, after that game, Briscoe admitted he played harder against the Sooners than he did against teams like Iowa State and Colorado. Briscoe finished the season on a tear and caught 14 passes in the Insight Bowl. He said that was the first moment he truly thought he could position himself to leave college a year early.
"After that," Briscoe said, "I felt like if I performed this year, I had a legitimate chance of going."
But it wasn't long before Briscoe was in trouble again, this time with the law of Mangino. Briscoe missed some classes in the spring and got behind academically, so Mangino suspended him for spring practice and for the season-opener this fall.
"I had some problems during the offseason," Briscoe said. "I learned from it. Coach Mangino, I just want to thank him. He gave me the opportunity to stay around. I feel like the stuff I did, other head coaches in the nation would have booted me off the team. There's a whole bunch of stuff that has helped me mature as a player off the field."
Briscoe said his teammates deserve some credit, too.
"Kerry Meier will text me every once in a while and say 'Stay focused and have a productive day,' " Briscoe said. "That alone puts a smile on my face."
The graduation of Meier, Darrell Stuckey and particularly quarterback Todd Reesing was a factor in Briscoe's decision.
"Todd, being my quarterback all three years I've been here, I don't really have that kind of chemistry with the incoming quarterbacks," Briscoe said. "So that helped me in my decision."
Briscoe said he has not received a projection from the NFL of where he may be drafted. He wants to improve his speed before the NFL Scouting Combine so that he will excel in the 40-yard dash. Briscoe said his fastest time is a 4.54 and he'd like to get in the 4.4 range through working with a speed coach.
Briscoe, an avid Madden football gamer, also hopes that any boost in his 40 time will show up in next year's edition of Madden.
"It just depends on what my ratings are on Madden," Briscoe said. "I'm gonna have to go perform."
