LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas coach Mark Mangino must really love Todd Reesing. The past few days, Mangino has done all sorts of things that he never does, all in Reesing’s name.
Mangino has said Reesing should be in the conversation for the Heisman Trophy, even though he does not promote players for such honors.
“Obviously,” Reesing said, “for Coach Mangino to mention an individual award is pretty out of character.”
Mangino also talked about what it would mean for a player from his program to win the Heisman, even though he does not address hypotheticals.
“It’d be great, it’d be awesome,” Mangino said. “It would be awesome because we never have (had a winner), and we have had some great players here like Gale Sayers and John Riggins and John Hadl.
“There’s others I’m missing. I think it’d be a great shot in the arm for the program.”
For anyone who has listened to Mangino talk about his players, these revelations are eye-opening. It is five games into the season, the Jayhawks haven’t beaten a team that currently has a winning record, they face a desperate Colorado team in Boulder on Saturday — and Mangino is game to talk Reesing for Heisman.
Thing is, Reesing is barely on the fringe of the national discussion, despite Mangino’s early-week efforts. Reesing finds himself among a second tier of quarterbacks who are vying to usurp last year’s finalists, Florida’s Tim Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Texas’ Colt McCoy.
But for Reesing or any of the other second-tier guys to compete, they will need more than statistics. Mangino is well aware of what it will take.
“For Todd to make a true run at it, we’ve got to win,” Mangino said. “We’ve got to win a lot of games. It’s all on us as a team as much as it is in his hands.”
