LAWRENCE, Kan.—Here’s a good conversation-starter for Kansas fans: Who was the last Jayhawk to draw a Heisman Trophy vote?
Not since 1973, when David Jaynes finished fourth to Penn State’s John Cappelletti, has anyone in a Kansas uniform rated so much as a Heisman mention.
Before that, it was Bobby Douglass finishing seventh in 1968. Before that, it was John Hadl finishing seventh in 1961.
Before that, nothing.
Now along comes Todd Reesing, a confident, fresh-faced Texan who was branded too small at 5-foot-11 for major college football by every big-time school that ever housed a Heisman.
Maybe that underdog status—and his defiant disregard for it—helped draw Mark Mangino to him in the first place. Or maybe it was an intuitive feel the Kansas coach has for spotting talent.
Now, four years after Mangino decided to take a chance, there’s hardly a school passing record still standing.
With Reesing behind center, Kansas has rung up 20 victories the past two years, won its first BCS game, built badly needed new facilities and raised football interest to an all-time high at a place that used to be known only for basketball.
Over the past three years, the Jayhawks are 11-4 against teams from the Big 12 North. It’s the other division that’s been trouble: This year’s schedule includes Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech, teams that beat Kansas by a combined 84 points last season. Overall, Kansas is 8-31 against teams from the Big 12 South.
Reesing will see what he can do about that.
He already owns Kansas records with 619 completions, 7,578 yards passing and 68 touchdown passes. While no one is predicting that Reesing will make a Heisman run, everyone understands that he is the most productive quarterback in school history.
He will forever stand as living proof that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.
“I’ve had to fight off naysayers both individually and as part of the Kansas football team my entire career, my entire life,” Reesing says without a trace of bitterness.
Growing up within shouting distance of the Texas campus, Reesing’s first love was the Longhorns. But they had no interest in spite of his 3,340 yards passing and 49 touchdowns his senior year. Almost no one else did, either.
But he and his dad would not be daunted. They put together a video of Todd’s high school career and jumped into the family car.
“He and his dad went and visited schools that had an interest in him, and he was selling himself,” said Mangino. “He did a good job of selling himself to me because, when he showed up and I met him for the first time in our office … he really had this swagger about him. When he shook my hand, he looked me right in the eye. He is full of energy. He was intelligent. He could speak on subjects other than just football. And he had a bounce in his step.”
The bounce is still there. But Reesing admits he’s getting tired of having to silence doubters.
“It’s something you wish would just stop at some point. But for some reason, there’s always something that you’ve got to prove to someone or something that people don’t believe you can do,” he said. “And you want to prove that you can.”
So he’s decided to stop worrying about his own detractors and devote his senior season to a higher goal.
Higher even than winning the Heisman Trophy.
“I think that I’ve shown a little bit that I can play a little football here and there and now it’s really about earning that respect for our program and our university,” he said.
“We want people to respect us on a national basis year in and year out. We want to prove that we can play consistently at a high level and compete for the Big 12 championship and compete to play in good bowl games.
“We’ve going to see if we can keep that going and build on that and see if we can keep this program going in the right direction.”
