Las Vegas ? When Mark Mangino promised to put his best athletes on the field during the preseason, he wasn’t kidding.

Two true freshmen football players made their Kansas University debuts in Saturday night’s 31-20 loss to UNLV.

And Big 12 Conference sprint champion Leo Bookman found a new home at wide receiver and Groza Award candidate Johnny Beck picked up additional duties on the kickoff return team.

“We’re trying to get the right people in the right places,” said Mangino, whose team fell to 0-2. “We’re trying to utilize our talent.”

Freshman running back Jon Cornish played in his first game as a kick returner, and freshman Kevin Kane made his debut at linebacker.

Three other freshmen  linebacker Nick Reid, receiver Mark Simmons and defensive end Kyle Knighton  started their college careers a week earlier in a season-opening loss at Iowa State.

Reid was moved from safety and was pressed into duty at ISU because of a one-game suspension to backup linebacker Glenn Robinson and an injury to starter Banks Floodman.

Mangino confirmed after Saturday’s game that Floodman’s knee injury would keep the sophomore out for the rest of the season.

“We needed to get Kevin some work,” Mangino said. “We need some depth.”

Mangino said Sunday that he didn’t know if, or when, Floodman’s knee would require surgery.

One of Saturday’s surprises was Beck, who played on KU’s kick return team. The sophomore also continued to handle the Jayhawks’ kicking duties. He’s 3-for-4 on field-goal attempts and has made both of his extra-point attempts.

Bookman, meanwhile, had been expected to contend for the starting job at cornerback with red-shirt freshman Donnie Amadi, but the sophomore had been relegated to a backup role in the season opener. His move to offense was a surprise because he was still listed as co-No. 1 with Amadi on last week’s depth chart.

“Right now he’s going to play wide receiver,” Mangino said Saturday. “If we have a need to move him back, we will. But we’re going to work him at wide receiver. He has great speed. He has really good hands. We used him a little bit tonight, but we couldn’t teach him the offense in one week.”

Bookman, who wasn’t one of the seven receivers who caught passes Saturday, and the rest of the Jayhawks have another week to learn the first-year coach’s systems before Saturday’s home opener against Southwest Missouri State.

“It’s a process. We’re getting closer to being a more consistent offense,” Mangino said. “It takes time, but we’re doing OK. We’re better now than we were a week ago, so we’re hoping to get better this week coming up, too.”