The fans sense it, his teammates sense it, and even Adam Barmann can sense it.

All that needs to happen now is for Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino to make it official and name his starting quarterback for the Sept. 4 opener against Tulsa.

Kansas University's Adam Barmann poses during the football team's media day last week. The sophomore quarterback said Aug. 11 at Memorial Stadium that he hoped to start this year for the Jayhawks.

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“I feel right now that I’m the starter,” Barmann said. “I think you have to go out there with the attitude that it’s your job. You can’t go out there looking over your shoulder.”

Now is the first time in awhile Barmann has been able to breathe a little easier. The sophomore has been battling juniors Jason Swanson and Brian Luke since the spring. While Luke is the most familiar with Mangino’s system, and Swanson’s mobility makes him the most comparable of the three to former starter Bill Whittemore, it was what Barmann’s teammates saw in three games last season that made them believe he was their man.

After Whittemore was injured Oct. 25 at Kansas State, Barmann took the reins the following week at Texas A&M.

In front of nearly 70,000 fans, the freshman made his collegiate debut by throwing for 294 yards, tossing four touchdowns and running for a score in a 45-33 defeat.

However, Barmann’s inexperience showed in successive losses to Nebraska and Oklahoma State. Still, he completed 67 percent of his passes in those contests.

“I knew he had the skills to do what he had to do,” senior wide receiver Brandon Rideau said of the three-game stretch. “He’s gonna be able to come in and feel confident, knowing that he’s got a little something under his belt.”

Even though the job was said to be Barmann’s to lose, that didn’t mean the competition was finished. Swanson is third on the depth chart, and Luke has emerged as Barmann’s backup after a solid offseason.

“We felt coming out of spring based on the evaluation we got that Brian merited the move up,” offensive coordinator Nick Quartaro said. “Jason’s aware that there’s competition constantly, and we want that. Adam right now is No. 1, and I don’t foresee that changing, really.”

If Barmann, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound sophomore from Weston, Mo., truly is KU’s quarterback of the future, then there was no better time than the present for him to grow and mature as Kansas will face one of the nation’s most difficult schedules.

“Those weren’t easy games,” junior wide receiver Mark Simmons said of Barmann’s school-of-hard-knocks experience a year ago. “Those were hard, Big 12 games. Now, when we go up there to Lincoln, he’s gonna be ready for that Nebraska defense. I see Adam Barmann being the starter right now.”

• Guards wanted: Mangino has confirmed rumors that offensive lineman Reid Kirby has left the program. Kirby, a red-shirt freshman from Oak Park High in Kansas City, Mo., had been listed second on the depth chart at right guard behind senior Tony Coker, who will miss at least three games because of an injury suffered in Saturday’s scrimmage.

KU has not released an updated depth chart, but the Jayhawks’ situation on the offensive line should be more clear after the team’s next open practice. That workout is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday at the field behind Anschutz Pavilion.