Charles Gordon won’t be doing everything for Kansas University’s football team this fall.

“I can’t kick,” Gordon said with a hearty laugh.

Name almost any other position, though, and Gordon might wind up there.

Gordon strictly was a wide receiver until late in the season when Mangino pressed him into double duty at cornerback.

“He’s a big-time player on either side of the ball,” Mangino said. “He doesn’t care; Charles will do whatever you ask.”

During spring drills, Gordon has been playing offense one week and defense the next.

“We just don’t know exactly what we’re going to do with him,” Mangino said.

Gordon, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound third-year sophomore, made a name for himself last season primarily at wide receiver. He led the Jayhawks with 57 catches, and tied junior Mark Simmons for the team lead in receiving yards with 769. Both marks were KU freshman records.

Throw in Gordon’s five touchdown receptions, and per-game averages of almost 4.5 catches and a team-best 59.2 yards, and it’s easy to see why the Carson, Calif., native was a favorite target of the quarterbacks.

“He’s by far the best that I’ve ever played with,” sophomore quarterback Adam Barmann said. “The thing a lot of people don’t realize about Charles is that he understands the game so well. A lot of times he knows the coverage before I do.”

Still, Gordon might have been an ever bigger threat as a punt returner.

Although he never scored a touchdown, Gordon’s 82-yard punt return in the Jayhawks’ second game against UNLV easily set up a score and set the tempo for KU’s first victory.

Gordon’s average of 13.1 yards per return was the best for a KU player who recorded more than 20 attempts since the 1949 season. His 341 return yards set a KU single-season record and also earned Gordon third-team All-Big 12 Conference honors from the coaches.

Maybe the most shocking display of his skill came when Gordon — who also was named a first-team freshman All-American as both a receiver and kick returner by the Sporting News — switched to defensive back in the 10th game.

Gordon recorded 13 tackles, a sack and a pass break-up in his limited time at cornerback.

During spring drills, a good natured tug-of-war over Gordon’s services has developed between the offensive and defensive platoons.

“We’re definitely not going to lose him to the defense,” Barmann said. “We definitely want him on our side. He might be able to go both ways, but we still want him.”

Gordon’s former receiver pals haven’t been as polite.

“I’ve been called a traitor and all kinds of things,” Gordon said. “The wide receiver group has probably been the hardest because I came in with them and started with them. Now that I’m playing defense and have to go on the other side and guard them, I get the most jaw from them.”

Every day before practice, Gordon says he feels like he is opening a present when he shows up in the locker room.

“I just come in and, bam, I have a blue shirt (for defense) or a white shirt (for offense) in my locker,” he said. “It’s kind of a surprise every time I come into practice.”

Mangino has said a final decision on where Gordon would play during the 2004 season might not come until the end of fall practice.

By then, Gordon even could have his hand — make that foot — in the kicking game.

“I’m pretty much doing all I can do right now,” he said. “I actually did a lot more in high school. I actually kicked.”