Now for something different: Jayhawks football team practiced in front of fans Saturday
The Kansas Jayhawks’ preseason training camp for football, which has been in session for two and a half weeks, enters a new phase on Monday, the first day of the 2022-23 schoolyear at KU.
“It’s going to get tough. School is starting (with) all the distractions,” KU senior tight end Mason Fairchild said Saturday morning after participating in a 90-minute open practice attended by about 350 fans at Booth Memorial Stadium.
The Saturday practice, conducted without pads, ended with fans heading from the stands to the field for autographs.
“Staying focused on the game is all we’re looking toward,” Fairchild said of KU’s season opener, set for 7 p.m. on Sept. 2 against Tennessee Tech in Lawrence.
Saturday’s practice with fans present seemed to energize the Jayhawks players, who normally work out on the practice fields adjacent to the stadium with no fans on hand.
““It was a lot of fun to be out here and get to perform before them. The title of the day is fan appreciation day. We got to show them the long ball, the synchronization, everything we’ve been working toward,” said Fairchild, 6-5, 260 pounds from Andale, Kansas.
In one of the best plays of Saturday’s workout, senior quarterback Jason Bean hooked up with redshirt sophomore tight end Jared Casey on a deep TD pattern that was captured on film by the KU football Twitter account.
“Camp was a grind but now there’s a game in sight,” Fairchild said. “There’s a lot of excitement.”
Second-year KU coach Lance Leipold said he enjoyed Saturday morning’s short practice before an audience.
“(We) took the pads off today. We knew it’d be a great day to get in front of the fans — great turnout, weather. We’ve had some guys out with illness. We caught back up with them today. We’ll have an off day tomorrow then get some live work in Monday.,” Leipold said.
Senior defensive linemen Caleb Sampson and offensive lineman Armaj Reed-Adams sat out the workout either because; of illness or injury, Leipold indicated.
“They’ve been out most of the week. We’ll still wait to see but we expect them back,” Leipold said.
As far as the upcoming schedule starting Monday, Leipold said: “School starts now. It’s another set of adjustments of our schedule. Their day changes.
“They are not in this building quite as much during the afternoon (as KU holds morning practices with class then meetings in the afternoon). Hopefully when you get under two weeks, you start sniffing kickoff, start getting excited. We start turning our attention and focus on installation of some things on Tennessee Tech.
“We hope that’s the part that gets them excited. … Some roles will start being a little bit more defined as a starting point. That’s an adjustment for guys,” Leipold added. “(They) have worked hard and competed and maybe it’s not exactly what they are hoping for (in terms of role to start season). You’ve got to stay with it. I’s part of growing and maturing and working and developing. Also being a good teammate.”
As far as seeing where the players stand ... Leipold appeared to be in no hurry to release a two-deep depth chart.
“I haven’t asked the coaches for one,” he said. “Unfortunately you have only so much room to print a two-deep, so when a guy doesn’t see his name, he can get (disappointed).”
This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Now for something different: Jayhawks football team practiced in front of fans Saturday."
