College football players who have a part-time job during the season are as rare as the single-wing formation.

Moreover, college football players who have a nephew Ãi¿½” yes, a nephew Ãi¿½” on the opposing team are as uncommon as leather helmets.

And yet Jake Letourneau, a fifth-year defensive back on Kansas UniversityâÂÂs football team, can claim both distinctions.

When he isnâÂÂt playing or practicing football, or attending class, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Letourneau works about eight hours a week for Pohl & Dobbins, a Lawrence optometric clinic.

âÂÂHeâÂÂs a smart kid, dependable and a hard worker,â optometrist Kent Dobbins said. âÂÂHeâÂÂs the first KU athlete weâÂÂve ever had work for us. The closest weâÂÂd come to having a KU athlete work for us before is Scot PollardâÂÂs wife.âÂÂ

Letourneau screens patients, helps dispense glasses, empties waste baskets and answers the phones during four-hour stints on Monday and Wednesday mornings when he doesnâÂÂt have class. Once football season ends, heâÂÂll be working Saturday mornings, too.

A six-time Jayhawk Scholar, Letourneau has applied for admission to a handful of optometry schools around the country, hoping to begin an expensive four-year grind that will, if nothing else, keep him out of coaching.

âÂÂMy dad and brother were high school coaches,â Letourneau said with a smile, âÂÂand they tried to steer me away from that.âÂÂ

Older brother Dave, a former Kansas State football player, is the father of Josh Letourneau, a red-shirt freshman special teams player at Oklahoma State. And that means the younger Letourneau will be playing against his uncle today when the Cowboys invade Memorial Stadium.

âÂÂIt might be a first-time thing âÂÂ: especially in the same conference,â Jake said. âÂÂWe knew weâÂÂd get a chance to play against each other once.âÂÂ

How is it possible for a football player to be on the same field with his nephew? In this case, itâÂÂs because Dave Letourneau is 17 years older than Jake. The two bothers have the same father, but different mothers. DaveâÂÂs mom died in an auto accident, and Jake is a product of his dadâÂÂs second marriage.

There are other offspring, too. In fact, Dave and another brother both live in Plano, Texas, and theyâÂÂll be here for the historic meeting of Letourneaus as well as a couple of sisters and, of course, mom and dad from Concordia.

âÂÂThatâÂÂll be neat,â Jake said. âÂÂI never thought IâÂÂd ever play against Josh.âÂÂ

When Jake Letourneau came to Kansas University, it was as a preferred walk-on. That means he paid his own way for the first year and was placed on scholarship the next season. He was a quarterback then, but was switched to the secondary where he moved progressively up the ladder, starting all 11 games at strong safety last season.

Letourneau began the 2002 season where he left off, starting in the secondary until junior Zach Dyer was switched from quarterback to strong safety in the seventh game of the season. Since then, Letourneau has had to be content with a backup role. ItâÂÂs likely heâÂÂll play more in his final college game today because Dyer is expected to fill in for injured quarterback Bill Whittemore.

In five years with KUâÂÂs football team, Letourneau never experienced a winning season, yet he isnâÂÂt complaining. And neither are the 17 other seniors.

âÂÂWe know weâÂÂre laying the foundation for the program and we have a real good attitude about it,â Letourneau said. âÂÂFor us, itâÂÂs a one-game season. ItâÂÂs all we have left.âÂÂ