Gabriel Toomey is the first football player out of the locker room at every Kansas University home game, usually leaving his teammates several yards behind.

Toomey, a sophomore linebacker, wasn’t quite as enthusiastic before his first practice.

“He didn’t want to play football at all,” said his father, Larry Toomey. “His brother and I had to drag him out there.”

The coaches at Toomey’s junior high school were friends of the family, and they recruited Gabriel as a seventh grader.

“Zachary had excelled,” Larry Toomey said of his eldest son, “so they wanted Gabriel to come out. As you can see, he’s excelled, too.”

Gabriel, a junior-college transfer, ranks sixth in the Big 12 Conference and second on the team with 107 tackles, and has helped KU (5-5 overall, 2-4 Big 12) make big strides after last year’s 2-10 season — the Jayhawks are one game from becoming eligible for a bowl with two regular-season games remaining.

But Toomey had other ideas as a child.

“My goal was to play in the World Cup,” Toomey said. “I always watched soccer. I didn’t want to play football. That was my brother’s sport. I didn’t want to play, but after that first practice I was glued. It was just different. I liked it.”

Toomey played soccer — he was a midfielder — in the spring and summer, football in the fall and basketball in the winter through junior high before sticking to football and basketball at Valley High in West Des Moines, Iowa, where he was a Prep Star All-American.

“He still likes soccer, but obviously this is paying for his school,” Larry Toomey said. “I think he’s got a bright future if he stays healthy.”

That hasn’t been easy for Gabriel (6-foot-4, 230 pounds), who’s had his share of bumps and bruises in his first season of major-college football.

Coach Mark Mangino said the newcomer had been playing on “toughness and determination” and needed to get stronger in KU’s offseason conditioning program. Toomey said he would like to play at 245 pounds next season.

Not that the Jayhawks are looking that far ahead. Toomey said the Jayhawks were determined to go to a bowl game this season and reap the benefits.

“It would definitely attract a lot of players around the nation, open their eyes,” Toomey said. “Any bowl game would be good for any college program. It will get everybody excited about KU football.”

A postseason bid also would mean three extra weeks of practice for the Jayhawks.

This time, nobody would have to drag Toomey to the field.

“I won’t be complaining,” he said. “I like playing football. The more practice we get, the better.”

KU plays Oklahoma State (7-3, 3-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.

• Watkins update: KU’s coaches no longer have a decision to make about Travis Watkins. Mangino said after Wednesday night’s practice that the junior defensive tackle — who has missed all 10 games because of a broken foot — would not be a candidate for a medical hardship if he was unable to return to action this season.

Mangino was updated on the situation after officials from KU’s compliance office talked to the NCAA.

“They informed that because his first red-shirt year was a voluntary red-shirt year — not a medical redshirt — that would preclude him from filing for a hardship for a sixth year,” Mangino said of Watkins, who sat out as a freshman in 2000.

Watkins suited up for the first time last Saturday but was held out of KU’s 24-3 loss to Nebraska. KU’s captain will try to make his season debut at OSU.

“Whether he plays or not this year, it doesn’t matter,” Mangino said. “He’s going to have one more year to play in our program and that will be it. It’s up to him. It’s a decision he and his family can make. If feels healthy and he feels capable of playing, we’ll use him Saturday.”