Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino knows he has no wide receivers with hands made of stone.

So despite the excessive amount of Adam Barmann passes last week that clunked off receivers’ hands, the third-year coach realizes that the problem is concentration, not talent.

“Some of the experienced guys on the team need to focus,” Mangino said. “There’s no reason to have that happen. But nobody feels worse than those kids.”

Barmann completed 24 of 49 passes in Saturday’s 14-8 loss to Nebraska, but it seemed most of the receivers had trouble making catches on more than one occasion, part of the reason Barmann was under 50 percent throwing on the day.

In addition, the sophomore quarterback’s lone interception in the first quarter was the result of a hard pass that bounced off Mark Simmons’ hands and into the grasp of NU’s Fabian Washington.

Since there’s no magic potion that softens the hands, the Jayhawks are doing it the hard way — with hard work.

“There’s no idle time for the receivers,” Mangino said. “If they aren’t in drills, they’re standing in front of the JUGS machine and the tennis ball machine.”

The good news is, the receiver position at KU has a little depth. Gary Heaggans, Brandon Rideau and tight end Lyonel Anderson all had at least four catches against the Cornhuskers, while Simmons has 196 yards receiving on the year, second on the team.

Running back John Randle is often a receiving option, too, as is Charles Gordon when he comes over from defense.

As long as Barmann’s arm holds up, KU will utilize it with the aerial attack. Mangino just hopes the receivers are ready for it today.

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“They’ll get better at it,” Mangino said. “They will get back to being focused and back to following the ball in and tucking it away this week.”

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Stubbs ready to go: KU strong safety Tony Stubbs is healed and will start today, according to Mangino.

Stubbs sat out last week’s game against Nebraska with an undisclosed injury. At first, Mangino speculated that Stubbs might play at less than 100 percent today, but the senior apparently has recovered faster than expected.

“The trainers said he’s perfectly healthy,” Mangino said. “By (today), there will be no sign at all of having any injury.”

Stubbs is tied with Gordon for the team lead with two interceptions this year. Without him, the Jayhawk secondary played well against the Huskers, picking off three Nebraska passes.

“Our main focus was coming in and executing, which we did,” cornerback Theo Baines said. “But Tony will be back this week, and we’re happy to have him back.”

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No practice field: The Jayhawks spent the week practicing at Memorial Stadium, rather than the practice field next to Hoglund Ballpark.

The venue change wasn’t for any strategic reason. It was more out of necessity.

“We’re practicing at the stadium because they’re doing some work on our practice field to try and get it fixed up,” Mangino said. “Hopefully, it’ll be ready soon.”

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Saw it coming: KSU coach Bill Snyder commented this week on Mangino’s successful rise through the coaching profession, which included a stint at K-State from 1991 to ’98 when he was Snyder’s assistant.

“He’s just very conscientious about his assignments and responsibilities,” Snyder said. “He did things professionally and he was a hard worker at it and intelligent about what he did. I think those are head-coaching characteristics.”

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In-state stockpile: Though it’s natural that both KU and K-State have a large number of homegrown players, which team has more?

The answer is the Wildcats, who boast 62 Kansas natives on their 132-player roster. The Jayhawks have 30 homegrown players on their roster of 98 players.

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Streak, stats, facts: Kansas State’s 11-game winning streak against KU is the longest streak between the two schools since the rivalry started in 1902; the next closest was 10 wins by KU from 1956-65. … The Jayhawks have outscored opponents in the first quarter 44-5, the only five points coming from Texas Tech. … KU is 33-0 against K-State when scoring at least 23 points.