Kansas University finished 2-10 in 2002 and failed to win a Big 12 Conference football game.

Coach Mark Mangino thinks his second season, which starts Saturday night against Northwestern, will be different.

“We have come from a point where many kids couldn’t make appointments or be on time for things,” Mangino said Tuesday during his first weekly news conference. “Many kids, when it got tough in the weight room or offseason program, they faltered and packed it in. They fell to the turf and screamed for the trainer. We don’t have that anymore.

“Last year we started two-a-days … there must have been 20 guys who couldn’t finish the conditioning at the end of practice — maybe more,” Mangino said. “I think we had one guy this year, and he had a legitimate reason. We are stronger, faster, the attitude is better. We are developing a team chemistry, and there are no outside agendas.”

There also has been a massive overhaul of personnel. Of the 67 underclassmen who were on KU’s spring roster in 2002, 31 have left the program.

“There are some really talented guys that we have inherited and that are still playing with us,” Mangino said. “There are also some kids that are really talented — had size, speed and agility — but they couldn’t take care of their business here, and they are not with us anymore. We can’t ask 100 kids to do everything the right way, then have five with their own agenda. There are some really talented kids who are no longer with us, but that is fine.

“There are some awfully talented kids that are still in the program, and they have benefited from our strength and conditioning program. In terms of size, speed and agility, we are still not in the top three or four teams in this conference, but we are a lot better off than we were 20 months ago. There’s no question about that.”

Kansas University freshman running back John Randle cools off after another 100-plus-degree practice day. The Jayhawks will open the season at home Saturday night against Northwestern.

KU’s improvements weren’t achieved through conditioning alone. Mangino’s first two recruiting classes have revamped the roster. The depth chart released Monday showed 21 first-year players — freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and transfers — on the two-deep list. Nine of those will start.

“For us, it’s good because it means that kids who are on the depth chart earned those positions, and the kids in our program are doing what we ask of them,” Mangino said. “We have come a long way from the first day that I got here in so many ways.”

Mangino knows how far his team has come since he was named head coach Dec. 4, 2001. He’ll find out Saturday at Memorial Stadium how far the Jayhawks still have to go.

“There is no question that the football team we are putting on the field this year is much improved over the team we put on the field last year,” he said. “We’ll learn a lot from our first game, and we will make sure we have the right people in the right spots and doing the right things.”

• Tang, Teng erased: KU released an updated roster Tuesday for the first time since preseason practice started. Freshman defensive back Tang Bacheyie, senior offensive lineman Roy Teng and senior defensive back Bobby Birhiray were missing from the new roster.

¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢ Tickets plentiful for KU’s opener

• Rodriguez red-shirting: Freshman lineman Cesar Rodriguez was listed as the second-string left tackle on the depth chart released Monday, but Mangino said Tuesday the Californian likely would sit out this season.

The coach said that if senior starter Adrian Jones were unable to play, KU likely would move starting right tackle Danny Lewis to left tackle and make second-string right tackle Rich Estrella a starter.

• McCoy’s move: John McCoy was an All-American linebacker in junior college. He’s been moved to defensive end at KU.

“He is doing an outstanding job for us,” Mangino said. “He is a physical player, and we needed to shore up the defensive line and get some help and some depth there. There is no doubt that he will help us.”

McCoy was caught in a numbers game at middle linebacker behind sophomores Gabe Toomey and Kevin Kane.

• No heat wave: Hot weather might have been an advantage for KU Saturday because the Jayhawks have been through a month of practices with temperatures hovering near the century mark. Meanwhile, Northwestern spent the first 12 days of preseason camp at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., enjoying cooler temperatures.

Humidity might remain high Saturday night, but temperatures are expected to dip into the low 80s.

“Anytime you’re leaning on weather for an advantage to win a game, you’re in trouble,” Mangino said. “We’re not going to do that.”

KU quarterback Bill Whittemore rolls to his right faking a pass during practice.