After two weeks of camp under his belt at the University of Kansas, Jayhawks head football coach Charlie Weis said that things are working out as he expected.
“Some of the things that you anticipated are being confirmed,” Weis said. “Almost everything I have said to you in generalities seem to be true.
“They are in great shape. You saw them in great shape. They look a lot better. You saw them a lot better. I told you somebody was really big. He looked really big.”
Kansas starts its season on Saturday, Sept. 1, at home against South Dakota State. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
With last season’s leading rusher, James Sims, a 6-foot, 200-pound junior, suspended for three games for violating team policy, a lot of focus has been turned to KU’s running game.
“There is (Tony) Pierson and then there is (Taylor) Cox and (Brandon) Bourbon,” said Weis, the former Notre Dame coach and New England offensive coordinator, who accepted the job after spending one year as Florida’s offensive coordinator. “Pierson is his own separate entity. They are not the same guy. Not that you can’t do some of the same things, but you can’t look at them exactly the same.
“I believe you find out what your guys can do and that is what you do. You don’t just call plays just because you like the plays. There has to be things that fit, or else you are beating your head against the wall. Tony does things way better than those other two guys.”
That’s not to say that Weis is overlooking Sims, who led KU with 727 yards and nine touchdowns last season, just because he will sit out the first three games, which are scheduled to be at home against South Dakota State, Rice and TCU.
“Right now, if I had to pick the most complete running back on our team, I would pick James,” Weis said. “I think James is even better than I thought he was. He just unfortunately can’t play right now.
“He can run inside. He can run outside. People told me he couldn’t run outside. They were wrong. He can.”
After their second-leading rusher Darrian Miller transferred to Northern Illinois when Weis took over at Kansas, Pierson and Bourbon are looking to take the brunt of the carries until Sims returns.
Pierson, a 5-10½, 170-pound halfback, ran 396 yards and three touchdowns on 71 carries last season as a freshman. Bourbon, a 6-1, 218 sophomore, finished with 190 yards and one score on 28 carries before injuring his leg against Iowa State on Nov. 5.
“You don’t see any of the injury things that are popping up, but he is a little rusty because he hasn’t played since the Iowa State game,” KU running backs coach Reggie Mitchell said. “He didn’t go through spring (practice). Every day you see him getting better and better.”