Count Reggie Duncan among those embracing the disciplined approach of first-year Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino.

Yes, this is the same Reggie Duncan who in January spent a weekend in the Douglas County Jail as punishment for misdemeanor theft.

“I think it’s been good for everybody,” Duncan said of Mangino’s approach. “A fresh start is what we needed.”

Early evidence will be provided by tonight’s spring game. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

No one needed a new beginning more than Duncan, a junior running back from Killeen, Texas, who has had a couple of publicized, off-the-field problems while at KU.

“I’m just eager to get the football season started,” said Duncan, who continues to decline to talk about his past shoplifting and purse theft convictions.

“We have a plan and a system here that we believe in,” Mangino said. “We expect our players to stay the course. We’ve raised the bar pretty high here, and we expect our players to meet those standards. If they can’t, they will have a difficult time staying in the program.”

Duncan, it appears, is meeting those standards.

“Not long after I got here,” Mangino said, “there was an issue with Reggie that I called him in and told him what the rules were going to be and how we were going to do things, and he was either going to be with us or not and it’s his choice.”

The 5-foot-9, 215-pound Duncan chose to comply.

“He’s had an excellent spring,” Mangino said. “He’s doing very well academically this semester, so I’m pleased. There have been times that we’ve really gotten tough on Reggie. We believe he’s responding in a positive manner.”

Duncan, who rushed for 739 yards and three touchdowns last season, isn’t the only Jayhawk who has incurred the wrath of Mangino during spring drills, and he’s not complaining.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I’m happy they made the change. I think coach Mangino and the rest of the guys are great people and great coaches. They know exactly what they want and how they want it done. They’ll let you know about it. I’ve gotten a little bit of Mangino, but I think everybody has. It’s good for everybody. It makes you want to do it right the first time.”

KU lost six of its last seven games in 2001 and was outscored 282-91 in the process, but the players’ attitude and intensity has changed so much in the five months since the season ended that the players are dreaming big.

“I think with the right coaches in here we can push ourselves and we can go to a bowl game, and that’s our goal,” Duncan said. “We can win right away. Coach Mangino has said that from day one. Coach Mangino said ‘We’re going to win with the guys in this room.’ Once he said that, he had everybody on the team behind him.”

Duncan is battling red-shirt freshman Clark Green for the starting job.

“The competition at running back is very good,” Mangino said. “What it’s done is elevate the play of all of those kids, which is what you like.”

Duncan has shown flashes of brilliance since coming to Lawrence as a prep All-American. He rushed for 96 yards against Nebraska as a freshman backup, giving KU fans hope for things to come.

As a sophomore, he was the Big 12 Conference offensive player of the week when he rushed for 227 yards last October at Texas Tech. He also rushed for 168 yards in the season finale against Wyoming. Kansas (3-8) won both those games, but Duncan rushed for a total of 334 yards in the eight other games he played.