Closing the chasm started long ago for Mark Mangino and his Kansas University football coaching staff.

Often, the hard work wasn’t anywhere near a football field.

As the Jayhawks prepare for the showdown with Kansas State at 6:20 p.m. today, the KU campus is buzzing with optimism, hoping for the best, and — for once — not expecting the worst.

It has been so long — more than a decade, in fact, since KU so much as competed against the Wildcats. They still lost that 1994 game, 21-13.

It was two years prior to that KU last tasted victory, a 31-7 rout over the up-and-coming Wildcats on Oct. 10, 1992, in Lawrence.

But starting even before that ’92 game, and slowly building as the years went on, KSU coach Bill Snyder and his staff — which at one time included Mangino — worked and worked on the foundation for a perennial college football power, complete with size, speed, strength, discipline and the goal of becoming a feared team in the league.

Even with the sluggish start this season, the defending Big 12 Conference champion Wildcats have earned that respect.

“K-State’s still a good football team,” Mangino said. “Anybody who thinks otherwise is being a bit foolish, to tell you the truth.”

The Kansas State secret isn’t so much recruiting the fertile football grounds of Texas, California and Florida. K-State does have players from those states, and many have made large impacts, including past quarterbacks Michael Bishop and Ell Roberson.

John Randle, Kansas University's running back out of Wichita Southeast High, carries during the 2003 Kansas Shrine Bowl in this file photo from Wichita.

But nearly 40 percent of the 605 players to play for Bill Snyder at Kansas State came from the state of Kansas, including All-America cornerback Terence Newman, All-America linebacker Mark Simoneau and the latest in-state standout, All-America running back Darren Sproles, who picked Kansas State over Kansas after weeks of agonizing over the decision in 2001.

Though KU certainly snagged its share of heavily recruited local players during the program’s down years — notably Travis Watkins and Ervin Holloman — there was a time when many of the best football players in Kansas picked K-State, and it wasn’t much of an issue or a surprise. Kansas State simply was the better football program.

But since Mangino was hired on Dec. 4, 2001, the line has blurred regarding where the blue-chip in-state athletes go and where they don’t.

Mangino insists that KU’s focus isn’t so narrow as to determine success by comparing its progress with Kansas State’s.

But the Jayhawks could benefit immensely from a victory over the Wildcats today — not just for Big 12 record, bragging rights or burying the 11-year old monkey — but for an added advantage in recruiting the best players in the state of Kansas — if not this year, then in the future.

“I think it depends on the kid,” said Watkins, a Derby native who was recruited hard by both schools. “Some kids pick schools for different reasons. But for those who look at face value, this game definitely has a big impact.”

Darren Sproles, Kansas State's All-America running back from Olathe North, tries to elude a pair of Free State High defenders. The two standout prep backs were pursued by both Kansas and Kansas State.

Getting the best

Rivals.com does extensive research and scouting to compile a list of the top college football prospects in each state each year.

For Kansas, the list — usually a top 12 or top 15 compilation — is put together by Big 12 regional analysts Jon Kirby and Brian Gates, with help from national analyst Jeremy Crabtree.

Since Mangino’s arrival, the Jayhawks never have landed rivals.com’s top player in the state until this year, when Ottawa High lineman Caleb Blakesley committed to KU in August.

Blakesley attended camps at Kansas and Kansas State, and both schools assured him that a full scholarship would be offered. KU was the only school to hold true to its word, though, making Blakesley’s decision an easy one.

“KU was my first option the whole time,” Blakesley said after committing, “but I wanted to check out other places to make sure I wasn’t jumping into things.”

Blakesley broke a trend of the state’s top players going elsewhere. K-State snagged last year’s top two in-state players, Winfield quarterback Nick Patton (who now is at Dodge City Community College because of academic issues) and Cherryvale lineman Matt Boss. The 2003 class saw the top player, Conway Springs’ Josh Barbo, go to Missouri, with the No. 2 player, Rashaad Norwood, picking K-State.

Norwood actually committed to Mangino and KU first, but changed his mind late in the recruiting process. Norwood said at the time that K-State coaches used their clout as a perennial bowl team to their favor, and while trying to lure Norwood in, they made sure to mention that KU wasn’t seeing the same on-field success.

Norwood listened, and was persuaded by the K-State coaching staff and players he talked with, including Sproles, during a campus visit.

“I liked that they went to bowl games and they won a lot more than KU,” Norwood said, “so that’s what really made me change my mind.”

Holding their own

Norwood slipped away, but Mangino’s first full year of recruiting culminated in February of 2003 with two in-state top-10 talents — John Randle, the No. 3 prospect in Kansas out of Wichita who chose KU over K-State and Missouri, and Brandon McAnderson, the No. 6 prospect out of Lawrence High, who chose KU over MU.

After red-shirting his first year, McAnderson has played on special teams and currently is listed as the backup fullback on KU’s depth chart. Randle, meanwhile, is KU’s starting running back and probably the team’s top offensive weapon this season.

Mangino and his staff also grabbed two top-10 players in 2004 — Shawnee Mission Northwest linebacker Mike Rivera and Olathe East lineman Todd Haselhorst — and have landed oral commitments from three more for the 2005 signing day — Blakesley, Newton’s Adam Welty and Kansas City Washington’s Darrell Stuckey.

“I think we’ve recruited pretty well in the state the last couple of years,” Mangino said.

This year is especially perplexing for the in-state recruiting scene, though. The three KU commitments on rivals.com’s list didn’t receive offers from K-State, and the one K-State commit — fifth-ranked Nick Stringer of Topeka Hayden — didn’t receive an offer from the Jayhawks.

“The tiebreaker may be Kerry Meier,” Kirby said of the second-ranked Pittsburg High quarterback, who currently is mulling offers from both schools. “It’s kind of a wash this year. The commitments they have so far have come from kids that don’t have offers from both schools.”

If anything, this year’s in-state class — and Snyder and Mangino’s contrasting views on all of them — is proof that recruiting is an unpredictable, inexact and sometimes frustrating science.

That said, a KU victory over K-State today wouldn’t hurt matters for either team. Many of the in-state players who once were recruits seem to be aware of that, too.

“A lot of kids go on who’s winning and who’s doing best right now,” Watkins said. “It would have a big effect on them.”

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