Kansas University coach Mark Mangino said he wants his team to forget about the first 10 football games of 2003 and focus on the last two weeks as if it were a “two-game season.”

Travis Watkins has no choice.

Watkins, a 6-foot-4, 295-pound junior defensive lineman from Derby, missed the first 10 games of the season because of a broken left foot suffered during a preseason scrimmage. For months, KU coaches, fans, players and media pondered whether Watkins should sit out the entire season and apply for a medical red-shirt or come back and help a defense that allows averages of 405 yards and 28.9 points per game.

The NCAA made the argument moot this week when it informed KU’s compliance office that Watkins would not be a candidate for a red-shirt season.

“They informed me that because his first red-shirt year was a voluntary red-shirt year — not a medical red-shirt — that had precluded him from filing for a hardship for a sixth season,” Mangino said.

That means Watkins will use a year of eligibility whether he plays in KU’s final two games or not. The tackle will suit up today at Oklahoma State and will be evaluated during pregame warmups.

“Travis is going to try to play, but I don’t know that he can,” Mangino said. “I’m fairly pleased with the way he’s moving around, though he’s probably not 100 percent.”

Injury report

It’s not the first time Watkins has been hampered by an injury.

He was an all-state football player his senior year at Derby High and signed a national letter of intent with KU. Before he reported for his first fall camp in Lawrence, Watkins injured his Achilles tendon during the Shrine Bowl. It didn’t matter much because Watkins took a red-shirt season — not because of the injury — as a freshman in 2000.

Injured Kansas captains Travis watkins, left, and Bill Whittemore leave the field at halftime of KU's game at Texas A&M. Watkins was expected to make his season debut today at Oklahoma State after missing the first 10 games because of a broken foot. Whittemore was expected to miss his third straight game.

He earned a starting role the following year when he made 38 tackles at end. Watkins bulked up, moved to tackle and was ready for a breakout sophomore year in 2002. He had 21 tackles in the first four games, including eight against Bowling Green, but an undisclosed injury hampered Watkins the rest of the year and he made only 16 tackles in the final eight games.

“Last year, the first couple games I played well,” said Watkins, who started 22 of 23 games in the previous two seasons. “I felt like after I got injured I didn’t play up to my potential. I don’t want to be the player who has to harp on that his whole career — like, ‘I could have done this and that if I was 100 percent.’ I really wanted to come out this year and be 100 percent all season and play well, and I was during preseason but unfortunately I had another injury.”

Watkins was determined to make an impact as a junior and was voted a captain by his teammates. He was in the best shape of his career when he broke his left foot in a scrimmage Aug. 13 — 17 days before the season opener.

“I was going to have a good season,” he said. “I was about 297 pounds. I was feeling pretty good, moving pretty good. I was as heavy as I’ve been since I’ve been here, and I was moving well. I got faster, and my vertical jump went up during the summer.”

Instead of playing, Watkins watched practices and games from the sideline on crutches. The conditioning he had had put so much effort into in the offseason slowly slipped away.

“He’s pretty strong,” said his father, Sam Watkins. “He’s not a crybaby. I like that. When it’s over, it’s over. He doesn’t sit around and whine about stuff.”

No that Watkins hasn’t had good reason.

Waiting game

At the time of his injury, KU’s medical staff speculated that Watkins might be able to return for the Oct. 18 homecoming game against Baylor.

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“It didn’t heal as quickly as anticipated,” said Watkins, who had been through this before. He broke his right foot during a high school basketball game.

Watkins returned to practice two weeks ago on a limited basis before being cleared for full participation last week. He suited up for the first time last week but wasn’t allowed to play in KU’s 24-3 loss to Nebraska.

Kansas (5-5 overall, 2-4 Big 12) has only two regular-season games remaining — today at Oklahoma State (7-3, 3-3) and next Saturday’s home game against Iowa State (2-7, 0-5).

Watkins was determined to play before the NCAA made it clear that a red-shirt season wasn’t an option.

“You have to take advantage of your opportunities while you have them,” he said.

If KU’s medical staff clears him to play, Watkins will take the field today and try to help the Jayhawks earn the victory they need to become bowl eligible — not that the postseason factored in his desire to play.

“It’s not about how my team plays,” he said. “If we were 2-8 or 5-5, that has nothing to do with me wanting to come back. If our defensive line was playing awesome, I’d still want to come back. It’s about my desire to play and help the team.”

KU’s defensive line has not been awesome. The Jayhawks rank 99th in the nation against the run, allowing an average of 196.7 yards per game.

Kansas recruited three junior-college defensive linemen last winter, but tackle Chuck Jones and end Monroe Weekly have vanished from the depth chart in recent weeks, and tackle Phil Tuihalamaka was never a factor.

In short, the Jayhawks could use Watkins. Still, Mangino — whose team has lost four of its last five games after a 4-1 start — has said repeatedly that he won’t use Watkins if the tackle is not 100 percent healthy or close to it.

“I’m somewhat close,” Watkins said. “I’ve been practicing and taking reps. I’m obviously limping around in practice. I’m not running at 100 percent. I’m not running as fast as I have before — not that I was very fast, but not as fast as I was.”

Watkins’ foot might be healthy by kickoff today, but the rest of him won’t be in top form.

“I’m really out of shape right now,” said Watkins, who continued to work on his upper body but couldn’t do much conditioning work while his foot was in a cast. “I walk down to the practice field, and I start sweating. It’s pretty bad, but I’ll get back. I’m not just useless, but I’m out of shape. Football takes a lot of conditioning, and if I did come back I’d be subbing in and out. I wouldn’t be in for 60 snaps every game.”

How Watkins feels in the moments leading up to kickoff will be critical.

“He’s not going to be 100 percent,” Mangino said. “Does he feel he can play and help the ballclub? That’s the issue.”