Amani Bledsoe
It’s a sad commentary when you have to dig back like 50 years to find a bright spot…
However that’s pretty much the sad state of KU football today. As evidenced by a pair of front page stories in today’s sports section about local Lawrence boys.
The larger, more prominent story being about a salute to former KU star quarterback John Hadl. The more telling, albeit smaller story about a kid named Amani Bledsoe.
Both grew up in Lawrence and Hadl opted to remain a Jayhawk where he was twice named an All American. Bledsoe however – a standout, four-star defensive end at Lawrence High School – took a pass on the crimson and the Blue and chose Oklahoma over KU.
Hadl
Not a great sign for the recruiting skills and future of heralded new KU football coach David Beaty.
About the only thing Beaty and KU football can look forward to at this point is the death or retirement of rival K-State football coach Bill Snyder, who will turn 77 this October.
By hook and by crook at first Snyder turned an impossibly lame K-State football program around by padding his schedule with a slate of patsy opponents and winning sketchy bowl appearances.
In the scheme of things, does K-State football really matter? Not much.
But don’t tell that to the citizens of Manhattan, Kansas which has gone from a loser ag town to arguably the most thriving, up-and-coming city in the state.
Snyder
welcome back
“the most thriving up and coming city in the state”…..a little overdoing it aren’t
we hearne.
thanks to southy’s friend the governor those words don’t mean anything…
By the way where is southy? Burning his 50 year collection of National Review?
hahhaaahhhaaaaaa
Well H Man,
What city in Kansas would you suggest is anywhere near on the tear that Manhattan is?
try overland park…seen 135th to 151st lately. One building
on that land tract makes anything in manhattan look like
legos. Please correct this horrible mistake andadmit
you made a mistake.
I can get info to prove this if needed.
H Manm, we’re talking about rapid, percentage growth. I’m not comparing Mad Twon’s finest against KC’s finest, just pointing out that the town is on FIRE.
Pardon my bluntness, but please, get a clue!
On the contrary, Hearne, it says a lot about Beaty’s recruiting skills and the future of the program that Bledsoe was even considering KU, hometown aside. That kid could choose pretty much any school he wanted to and apparently thought long & hard about staying home. Maybe that was just to make the hometown folks feel good, but if he did consider it, even knowing how big a hill KU has to climb to even be mediocre, that’s a win, personally.
Good point, Kyle…
But I wonder to what extent he was giving lip service to the homies as opposed to really thinking about possibly throwing away his career at KU
Even though I’m a fan of the SEC, it’s kind of hard not to follow some KU/K-State in this town. And I agree KU football is and has become a joke.
If you compare its football facilities to some in the SEC, KU would be battling Vanderbilt for last place. The football stadium is a dump. It’s old, but not kept up like other stadiums across the country.
IMO, I think KU football will never get better until they find money to renovate or just build a new stadium.
i think recruits care more about joining a winning program, whether they’re going to get to start, and if the program can help elevate their NFL stock than they do about shiny new facilities and stadium. no doubt those things help, but those things take much moola. put a winning product on the field, and a lot of good things can happen from recruiting to revenue.
I’m with Miket
Hard to get the money the way things are going.
They’ve been trying to do some more improvements for a while but…
Is the underlying point of this column that Missouri football is a big whopping deal by contrast because they play in the SEC and they won a few divisions?
No, MU won the East because the East is horrible. And even though they won it back to back years only to get destroyed in the championship game, no one in the SEC was impressed.
That’s why your seeing the lack or recruitment comming from Columbia. Right now they have the worst class in the SEC. And that’s not going to change.
the worst recruiting class in the sec is still in the top
20 in the nation. They lost their #1 qb which probably
cost them a bowl game.
As far as recruiting as long as andy hill isstill there
they’ll recover…..a tumultuous year led to being within
a game or two of a bowl.
as far as cash…MU HAS SITTTING IN THEIR BANK ENOUGH
MONEY TO BUY KU 3 NEW STADIUMS.
AS FAR as this kid going to Oklahoma its a no brainer.
Oklahoma will soon be out of the league with texas and 2
other schools.
Oklahoma will be a national power house and whats a
better decision….playfor a real powerhouse like Oklahoma
or play in the pop warner league at Kansas.
The word…the east of sec is getting stronger…just wait
a while.
KU shouldthank our governorfor adding to our problems
at Kansas. What a mess this dude caused forall of education
in our state.
Not at all, One Guy…
Unless of course you ask harley
“It’s a sad commentary when you have to dig back like 50 years to find a bright spot…”
Uh, they won a BCS bowl in 2008.
I saw that line and skipped directly to the comments. It may take years to rebuild the football program at KU, but they will have to give Beaty those years. Coaching changes every 2 years has set the program back even farther. Even Bill Snyder needed 4 or 5 years to create the miracle in Manhattan. Stay the course.
yes…stay the course. you’re now ranked the second worst
team in ncaa….If ku stays the course they could dropto the
worst.
close down football….take the losses from the program
ad use the money to build a championship bball team.
If Snyder had the manhattan miracle…ku really needs
the pope miracle.
The difference between Snyder’s ascension and KU’s is that K-State sucked so bad when he took over there was no real pressure to make it happen.
Whereas the coaches that followed Mark Mangino were following a relatively successful program and they put it in the dumper so fast and so convincingly they couldn’t get rid of them fast enough to try and stop the hemorrhaging.
They’ve had a few other bright spots but jamming it onto the front page up top right above losing a top recruit in a smaller story kind of highlighted the warm glow of the past in contrast to more of the same in the present.
So…I take it your not a fan of Bill Snyder?
That’s fair, no I’m not a fan of Bill Snyder…
Nor am I a dissenter.
However the talk now is that his age is costing K-State recruits who worry that he won’t be there for all four years
Snyder takes mostly two- and three-star recruits and coaches them up to a level that few can equal with the same talent. That is his special gift. He often faces schools with players who have several four- and five-star recruits. It’s difficult to overcome that advantage that many of his competitors have, but he plays well with the hand he’s been dealt better than about any coach in America. He won’t win a national title because of these limitations, but just as we admire any person who maximizes their ability to succeed in the face of numerous setbacks, deficiencies and obstacles, many of us tip our hat at Snyder for what he’s achieved in a very honorable way while passing along virtuous lifetime values to young men.
craig …hate to prove you wrong…but MU is probablythe best at taking 2 or 3 star
recruits and making them nfl players….mostly on defense. who’s on the nfl
rosters from k state?
MU has almost twice as many players in nfl compared to KSU ..mostly because of pinkels recruiting. And remember Snyder has been coaching way longers than
pinkel.
I take nothing away from Snyder. Great coach and motivator. and maybe the only way ku beats ksu is for them to lure Snyder to Lawrence to coach. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOW many #1 draft choices have come from ksu versus mu? K…I turn this stat
over to you.
Pretty sure its MU…ex: weatherspoon.
Big deal. Lawrence High football greats have gone on to play all over the country — DeLong to Tennessee, Ballard to Iowa. Nothing to see here. Move along.
You move along, Puck…
I think readers can make up their own mind without you trying to play imaginary traffic cop.
This was a story about the sad state of KU football, not a recruiting report.
why not drop football? Take the money and improve the university…and become
a championship bball team….like in national championship.
I think once perkins screwed even the family of phog allen on their seats and the
money you could see they were in trouble in the athletic department.
Basketball is their game…and this year could be the ncaa champions (we hope).
Put your resources where they can do the most good instead of throwing
bad money after bad money or maybe drop down a division and play lesser
teams like pittsburg state or Marysville and hopefully get some wins.
Thatsthe way it shouldbe in business.