For three years, Jerome Kemp and Nick Reid were rivals.

Starting today, the Kansas University freshmen are roommates and teammates.

“We’ve been good friends since our recruiting trip,” said Reid, one of 17 scholarship freshmen who will report to preseason football camp today. “I knew of him, but I didn’t know him.”

Reid had seen plenty of Kemp, perhaps more than he’d like.

Reid’s Derby High team beat Kemp’s Wichita Southeast squad in the final week of district play during their sophomore season to earn a berth in the Class 6A state playoffs. Southeast, however, won the pivotal district matchup the next two years and advanced to the postseason.

“It was always win or go home,” Kemp said.

Now the freshmen will work together to improve a KU program that was 3-8 last season and hasn’t had a winning season since 1995. It will be the second time the Sedgwick County products have joined forces. They played together on the victorious West squad in the Shrine Bowl on July 27 at Pittsburg.

That was high school.

KU’s freshmen will practice together Tuesday and Wednesday before the rest of the team reports to coach Mark Mangino’s first preseason camp on Thursday. After media day on Friday, two-a-day practices begin Saturday.

Kemp (5-foot-11, 195 pounds) knows what’s in store when full-contact drills begin with KU’s returning players.

“They’re going to be bigger, stronger and faster, but that’s Division I football,” said Kemp, an all-state running back. “I’m eager to prove myself to the other players and coaches.”

Kemp was rated the top safety in the region by MoKan Football as a high school senior, but he’s determined to play running back in college.

And he wants to play soon.

“I think I can contend for a position,” Kemp said.

Never mind the fact that junior Reggie Duncan is a returning starter, or that red-shirt freshman Clark Green pushed Duncan throughout the spring in a battle for the starting job.

“It doesn’t bother me because coach Mangino is going to put the best players on the field,” Kemp said. “If I’m better, I’ll be out there.”

Mangino was recruiting Kemp for Oklahoma before the Sooner assistant coach became KU’s head coach last December.

Kemp said he had turned down a scholarship offer from former KU coach Terry Allen, but he changed his mind about the Jayhawks when Mangino was hired.

“He’s a good coach, and KU is close to home,” Kemp said. “He’s a down-to-earth coach. He’ll tell you the truth about things.”

Kemp also is a fan of Mangino’s disciplined approach.

“He’s not a Terry Allen,” he said. “He’s not going to take any stuff.”

Reid (6-4, 210) was recruited by several other Big 12 schools, but the quarterback knew all along he wanted to come to KU. He committed to Kansas before the coaching change.

“I thought KU was the place for me,” said Reid, an all-state selection who set a Derby career record with 4,171 total yards. “I grew up watching them. It was just a dream come true for me to go there.”

Reid was a three-year starter in football and four years in basketball. He also lettered four years in track.

“I’d like to get on the field as soon as possible,” he said. “I’m not used to sitting on the bench.”

Reid and Kemp got a taste of being in a major college program this summer. They were among a handful of KU recruits that spent two weeks working out with the team in July.

Four days a week, the players ran at 6 a.m. and worked out at 9:30 a.m. with strength coach Mark Smith.

“It was a real eye-opener,” Reid said. “It’s going to be tough, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”