Upon further review, that wasn’t Kansas University placekicker Johnny Beck on the Jayhawks’ kickoff return team last Saturday at Nevada-Las Vegas.

Reporters, it seemed, misidentified Beck (No. 46) for true freshman Kevin Kane (45), who made his collegiate debut on the KU return squad.

“We’re trying to move people around and get them in the right spots but we’re not going to have our placekicker be the guy who does the double-team kickout block. I think we’ll spare him that,” KU head coach Mark Mangino said Tuesday.

“I can see where there are some problems because Kane wears No. 45. Beck wears 46 and this was Kane’s first opportunity to play. But that was Kevin Kane on the kickoff return team, not Johnny Beck.”

Beck, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound former slotback, safety and linebacker at KC Piper High, put on 20 pounds during the offseason and looks like he could play on kickoff and punt return teams, but hasn’t yet at KU.

“I was shocked myself,” he said when told the media had him doing more than kicking two of three field goals and two extra points in KU’s 31-20 loss in Sin City. “I heard it from my mom first. She wanted to know if I was out there playing. I said, ‘Yeah.’ She said, ‘Were you on kickoff return?’ I said, ‘No.’ It was kind of a shock.”

His mom had read accounts of the game in Sunday papers.

“I read it in the paper again on Monday. That was kind of a shock,” Beck said. “Hopefully that will persuade them (coaches) to get me on there. I’m not going to argue if coach says, ‘Go out there (on special teams),”’ Beck added, grinning.

Yes, Beck longs to get on the field and hit somebody.

“I don’t think it’ll ever happen just because I’m on scholarship here to play (kicker),” he said. “The difference between high school and college is in high school when you play other positions you aren’t mainly focused on just kicking the ball. I think that’s a big deal. It’s what I try not to do,” he said, referring to being obsessed with kicking.

“At practice I don’t sit out there and kick all day because you’re going to find something wrong and you’re going to try to change it at the game and have 50,000 things go through your head. I think it’s good to kick a little bit, watch practice and stay focused on the team, just do your job.”

This year, Beck has made three of four field goals and two of two extra points. As a freshman he converted 14 of 20 field goals and 16 of 17 extra points.

Some were surprised when Mangino did not send Beck onto the field for a 49-yarder in the opener against Iowa State when KU trailed, 10-0. It turns out Beck was coming off an injury. Mangino has a policy to not report injuries to the media.

“I had an injury to my kicking leg, a little hamstring problem,” said Beck, who has recovered. “(Still) I was shocked, but I understand what he was trying to do. It’s a close ballgame and our defense was playing fairly well. If we punt and they get the ball on the 5-yard line, it’s a different ballgame.”

Instead, KU’s punt sailed into the end zone, foiling the strategy. But Beck said he wouldn’t pressure Mangino to try for the field goal.

“I don’t think on the field would be a good time,” he said.

Beck made seven of 10 attempts from 40 to 49 yards and two of two from 50 to 59 yards during his rookie year.

“Maybe on the practice field if I see him around I’ll joke with him. It’s something you don’t do. I think it’s showing the coach up,” he said. “I respect the decision on what he did and why he did it.”