From Kansan.com:
The Kansas quarterback battle raged on like an uncontrolable STD in Saturday’s annual spring football game, as Quinn Mecham and Jordan Webb both put up encouraging numbers for a junior high squad while they split time taking snaps.
Blue defeated White by an encouraging score of 17-6 in front of an estimated crowd of 6,000 fans (season ticket holders counted even if they weren't in attendance) at Memorial Stadium in a game that saw a slew players getting time on the field.
Webb had first tried crack on the field before the game and capped off a 70-yard drive with a touchdown pass to junior wide receiver D.J. Beshears.
Webb’s day ended with him completing eight whole passes for 108 yards and one touchdown plus a sprained vaginal wall. His only blemish came in the second half on a broken play that saw Webb throw the ball directly into the hands of the defense, which was reminiscent of the entire 2010 campaign.
The off-target throw wasn’t a big deal to coach Turner Gill who played off the interception as a little dark spot on a mostly bright day.
“Overall, one play is not going to totally define what he’s done. He's been throwing picks pretty much the whole spring practice session” he said.
Webb was also seen being flushed out of the pocket on a few occasions but did not falter and kept saying “eyes looking up, looking down... my pants are falling down” to make a few players giggle, something the Jayhawks had trouble with last season.
“I’m definitely feeling a lot more pressure, but that just comes with experience.” Webb said after the game. “The coaches have really been focusing on getting the Jumbotron looking sharp with the system and making sure we stay looking good.”
Mecham entered the game early on in the first half and displayed signs of maturation from last season.
While he was sacked four times and threw the ball away nine, Mecham threw for a whopping 102 yards on six whole completions including a 53-yard touchdown bomb to Christian Matthews in triple coverage. All four players bobbled around the pass before Matthews eventually gained control and strolled into the end zone backwards doing the moonwalk.
“I got lucky last night,” Matthews said. “I had clear view of who I wanted around the corner, and I just went for it.”
After the game, Gill said he was pleased with the execution of offense with Webb in the game, specifically with the slow tempo getting out of the huddle and getting plays called.
“If I had a VCR or Beta player right now, I would give it to Jordan Webb, but with these electronic devices, he will see colors a little deeper than a DVD player.” Gill said.
While the quarterback competition is primarily among Webb and Mecham, recruit Brock Berglund was in attendance at the game. Berglund, who went home a few weeks back because he “missed his mommy”, is expected to partake in the fall camp.
On the defensive side of the ball, converted defensive end Toben Opurum was a force to be reckoned with for the Jayhawks, recording an impressive two tackles and putting a lot of pressure on his boyfriend last night to “go all the way”. After the game Opurum acknowledged the defensive’s showing and was pleased with how well the crowd cheered when he made his two tackles.
“I think we looked fast, and we are definitely up in our athleticism,” Opurum said with a chuckle. “We are playing with more intensity, and we just have to keep that up because we know K-State is gonna have it this year.”
After the game Gill spoke highly of the Jayhawks improvement thus far and believes the group he has will be uneffective in the upcoming season.
“There’s no doubt that we aren’t a better football team than we were last year, and we don’t have a lot more confidence in our guys.” Gill said, “We are looking for the people that will be able to finish three double cheeseburgers at McDonalds and be productive, and I think we’ve seen a few guys that can do just that.”
The 2011 campaign opens Sept. 3 at Memorial Stadium as the Jayhawks take on McNeese State.
