Former walk-on serves important role with KU’s offense
It was more than two years ago — Aug. 27, 2014, to be exact — when Michael Zunica was asked to stand up at a Kansas football team meeting alongside Beau Bell.
“Probably one of the best moments of my life,” Zunica said.
The two walk-ons had earned a reputation in practice because of their physicality. Teammates called them “The Bash Brothers,” and Charlie Weis, who was the head coach at the time, was about to give them an even better title: He announced to the team that they were scholarship players.
A few minutes later, Zunica called his father, Mike, who wouldn’t have to pay for his son’s out-of-state tuition any more.
“He broke down to tears a little bit,” Zunica said.
The fullback has worked hard enough since then to make sure that wasn’t his career highlight.
After transferring to Kansas in 2013 — he previously spent a season at Columbia in New York — the 5-foot-11, 225-pound Zunica has since moved up the depth chart to earn first-team reps. As a senior, he’s one of a handful of players that is on all four of KU’s special teams units, and he also was a main part of the offense as a blocking back in the team’s first game this season against Rhode Island.
“Zuni’s always working,” KU quarterback Montell Cozart said. “He’s one of those detail-oriented guys as well, and it’s paying off for him.”
Originally from Palos Park, Ill., Zunica has been on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in each of his three years with Kansas. Coach David Beaty, whose Jayhawks take on Ohio on Saturday, describes Zunica as “very intelligent” while saying the team has benefited from his versatility.
“A great story,” Beaty said, “because he’s a guy I don’t think many people thought would be playing very much.”
Zunica has emerged even after going through a position switch this year. He spent all of spring practices as a running back — the Jayhawks didn’t have much depth at the position then — before getting moved to his current fullback/tight end role during the first week of fall practices.
The personnel group served Kansas well against Rhode Island. Two of the Jayhawks’ touchdown passes came with the two-back look, while Zunica also pulled in the first reception of his career for a 22-yard gain.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Zunica said. “We run that play a lot in practice. It was there for us, and I just snuck out. I was wide open.”
Zunica has started some family history with KU, as his brother, Mateo, is a freshman on the baseball team. The two were able to meet up with their father last week, as Mike came to Lawrence to watch the Jayhawks’ opener.
For father and son, it seemed like a long time since that emotional phone call two years ago.
“He’s telling me how pumped up he is for this Ohio game,” Michael said. “He says this is the biggest game of our career.”
Jesse Newell: @jessenewell
Ohio at Kansas
- When: 1:30 p.m. Saturday
- Where: Memorial Stadium, Lawrence
- Radio: KFH, 1240-AM, 98.7-FM
- TV: FSKC
Three story lines
Defensive debuts: KU took a 55-6 victory last week without three rotation playerson defense. Coach David Beaty expects linebacker Marcquis Roberts and defensive linemen D.J. Williams and Jacky Dezir to return, which could help solidify a front seven that had some issues stopping the run against the Rams in Week 1.
Quarterback shuffle: Beaty rotated quarterbacks Montell Cozart and Ryan Willis every two possessions in the opener, and he said that both would continue to get opportunities against Ohio. Ideally, the coaches would like to settle on one player in that role, and if this game remains close (as the betting line expects), we could learn a lot about which way Beaty is leaning based on whom he decides to put in during crunch time.
Kicking encore: KU senior Matthew Wyman missed his only field-goal attempt against Rhode Island, pushing a 31-yarder wide right. “He didn’t finish his follow-through, and that happens unfortunately,” KU special teams coach Joe DeForest said. “It was a chip shot. He should have made it.” It was the continuation of previous accuracy issues for the strong-legged Wyman, as he dropped to 16-for-30 in his career on field goals. He did make a 52-yard game-winner as time expired his freshman year against Louisiana Tech, though, so it will be interesting to see how much faith Beaty puts in his kicker if the Jayhawks are needing a field goal late.
This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Former walk-on serves important role with KU’s offense."