No longer bumming from knee injuries, two of Kansas University’s top football players — Bill Whittemore and Banks Floodman — weren’t bashful talking with media members Friday about the success they think the Jayhawks can have this season.

“We’re looking good. I’m excited to see what we’re going to do,” Floodman told a handful of reporters Friday in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I think we’re unbelievably better,” continued Floodman, a red-shirt sophomore from Wichita. “I haven’t seen this team get along so well on and off the field. I’m finding that all the players are starting to interact with each other, supporting each other. I’m excited to see how much better we got and what we’re going to do.”

A great deal of the Jayhawks’ success could stem from the support of last season’s starting quarterback, the senior, Whittemore — who missed the final three games of the season after damaging the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in a 36-12 loss to Missouri Oct. 26.

“I don’t even wear that brace I was wearing anymore,” said a confident Whittemore, who sported a knee brace for precautionary reasons during his winter rehabilitation process and spring drills.

“I’m not planning on it,” Whittemore added about putting the brace back on. “They told me it was going to be my choice. I don’t know what they’re going to say. I’ll probably see a doctor before. But I can definitely run faster without it.”

That was true, considering Whittemore led the Jayhawks in rushing before his injury with 549 yards and 11 touchdowns in nine games, choosing more often to run over a defender than slide or run out of bounds like most quarterbacks.

In addition to his fearless running, Whittemore’s 1,666 yards passing and 10 TDs earned him the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year honor.

“I feel no difference in my knees,” Whittemore said, with a slight smile because he also had injured his right knee after his sophomore season at Fort Scott Community College.

Another Jayhawk that put up eye-popping numbers last season was Floodman, albeit the linebacker’s eight tackles in the first half of the Iowa State game were his only tallies of the year, because he tore his anterior cruciate ligament covering a punt with less than three minutes left in the second quarter against the Cyclones. But after nearly a year of rehab, a beefed-up Floodman — who weighs nearly 15 more pounds than last season at 230 — is ready to collect the reward for his hard work.

“It’s fine,” he said about his knee. “In the spring it got a little sore, a little tired. But that was the end of that. Basically, I haven’t had any problems with it this summer. It hasn’t even gotten sore. Now it’s feeling a lot better and not getting sore at all.”

In addition to their own successful rehab and training, Floodman and Whittemore said they were excited about the upcoming season because of the influence of the new recruits and junior college transfers have had on the program.

“The motivation is exciting,” Whittemore said. “When people are running, people are chatting around, bouncing around. We got a bunch of new guys and they expect to win.”

Such sentiment Floodman promised would be displayed prominently in KU’s Aug. 30 home opener against Northwestern.

“After losing like last season, you get a lot of peeved-off guys on defense, including myself who really just don’t want to lose anymore,” Floodman said. “They’re basically going to do what they can and give their all to not lose anymore. That’s basically the gist of it.

“We just don’t want to lose anymore, I don’t want to lose anymore, and we’re not going to lose anymore.”