KU FALL SPORTS PREVIEW
Sunday August 18, 2024
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ON A MISSION
We don’t have time to mope around or act like we’ve been here before, because we haven’t. We’ve never been a Big 12 championship team, we’ve never been a playoff team.”
There’s no taking it easy for ‘Hawks that want to soar
— Kansas running back Devin Neal
Chance Parker/Journal-World File Photo
during the first day of spring practice on KANSAS COACH LANCE LEIPOLD walks the field March 19 in Lawrence. By Henry Greenstein hgreenstein@ljworld.com
Kansas head coach Lance Leipold got told early in his career, in particular, that he didn’t enjoy wins enough. “I always felt that that was already over and something new was on the horizon,” he said at the start of KU’s 2024 fall camp. “I think you’ve got to find that balance but stay focused. I’m not always great on all these sayings, so I apologize — it’s why the windshield’s bigger than the rear-view mirror, or something like that.” After a landmark 2023 season, Leipold and the leaders of this year’s veteran football team — a group with
Carter Skaggs/ The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP
DEVIN NEAL
SOCCER: IT’S A NEW COACH AND A NEW ERA FOR JAYHAWKS AIMING TO TILT THE FIELD. 2C
more than 30 seniors in total, many of whom lifted KU to where it is now, a vastly more successful program than when Leipold arrived in 2021 — have tried to keep their eyes firmly focused on the windshield. “We don’t have time to be complacent,” said senior running back and Lawrence native Devin Neal. “We don’t have time to mope around or act like we’ve been here before, because we haven’t. We’ve never been a Big 12 championship team, we’ve never been a playoff team.” The subtext, of course, is that those goals may be within reach of the 2024 squad. It’s not unreasonable to think so, given the combination of a few factors: that high level of returning experience, the overall upward trajectory (2-10 to 6-7 with a bowl appearance to 9-4 with a bowl win last December) and a favorable schedule in the new-look Big 12. Oklahoma and Texas are gone, replaced by Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. And KU, which was picked to finish fourth in the league, only has to play one other member of the top five. It has to go to Manhattan to face Kansas State but does not play Utah, Oklahoma State or Arizona.
> FOOTBALL, 5C
VOLLEYBALL: SENIORS HAVE EYES ON A FOURTH TRIP TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. 4C
CROSS COUNTRY: RETURNING RUNNERS AND NEW ADDITIONS BULK UP TEAM THAT LOST SOME BIG NAMES. 3C
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