Brandon Rideau caught nine passes for 109 yards in the Tangerine Bowl.

But after Kansas University suffered a 56-26 loss to North Carolina State last December at Orlando, Fla., Rideau was wishing he could have done more.

“Even though I did pretty good last year, every game I still felt like there was something I could have done better,” said Rideau, KU’s senior co-captain from Beaumont, Texas. “The bowl game was a confidence builder, but actually I expected to have more yards than that.”

It should come as little surprise then that Rideau was devastated after he dropped as many passes as he caught last week in KU’s 21-3 season-opening victory over Tulsa.

“I’m expected to be a leader, and I shouldn’t make those kinds of mistakes,” said Rideau, who caught three passes for 27 yards. “Right after the game I was looking forward to coming back and looking forward to this week. I need to come out and make a statement. I’m ready.”

Rideau is eager to prove himself in tonight’s game against Toledo, despite the fact KU coach Mark Mangino gave him a game ball last Saturday for blocking two punts on special teams.

On Monday, Rideau’s father phoned to tell him he had been named Big 12 Conference special teams player of the week, and Mangino announced it later that day in a team meeting.

Not that any of that made Rideau feel any better about his overall performance.

“I think it always bothers me every time I make a mistake, whether it’s making a catch or blocking,” he said. “I got lost in it, and I wasn’t able to bounce back as soon as I should have.

KU receiver Brandon Rideau is taken down by three Oklahoma State defenders after making a catch in traffic. Rideau had a breakthrough season in 2003 with 51 catches for 677 yards and six touchdowns. The senior co-captain wasn't happy with his three-catch performance in last Saturday's season opener against Tulsa and hopes to bounce back today against Toledo.

“I came out with a little too much excitement in me. I should have been a little more relaxed like I usually am. This first game, I don’t want to say I was overconfident, but I came out too excited.”

Vast improvement

It would be hard to blame Rideau for being excited about 2004. He had a career year in 2003 when he caught 51 passes — more than his freshman- and sophomore-year totals combined.

“He’s a young guy that when we first got here we didn’t know what the future held for him,” Mangino said. “He wasn’t really fast. He wasn’t a big guy in terms of size, but he kept working at it and working at it. He was one of those program guys that just keeps after it, and he developed himself into a fine player last year.

“His teammates respect him; they named him a captain. If you had asked me at this time in 2002 if Brandon Rideau’s teammates would name him a captain, I would have thought not.”

Rideau (6-foot-4, 190 pounds) played quarterback until his senior year at Ozen High when he switched to receiver and caught 39 passes for 800 yards. He played in seven games for then-coach Terry Allen as a true freshman in 2001, but he caught only two passes for 55 yards. One of those was a 46-yard touchdown in the season finale.

Kansas receiver Brandon Rideau sprints past Iowa State's Ellis Hobbs for a touchdown in the 2003 regular-season finale. Rideau ranked second on the team last season with 51 receptions.

In his first season under Mangino, Rideau caught 27 passes for 307 yards as a sophomore. That didn’t prepare most KU fans for what the lanky receiver did last year.

“In the spring of 2003, he got stronger and faster and I started to realize that this guy might really be a player for us,” Mangino said. “But he had not done it yet. Then when fall camp rolled around, he really looked sharp. I said, ‘I think we’re really going to be able to rely on him,’ and that’s the way it turned out.”

Higher expectations

Rideau averaged 13.5 yards per catch and scored six touchdowns. Not only did his statistics improve dramatically, but the Texan showed an ability to catch passes in traffic and a newfound determination to make yards after the catch.

“The first two years I felt like I could have played more and contributed more,” he said. “It was just the athlete in me coming out. There were a lot of things I could do but didn’t show. I had to bring it out and just do it.”

Rideau’s teammates took notice and named him a co-captain for this season.

“It was a big confidence builder,” he said. “It helped me look at my team like they really believe in me.

“It was one of those things you’re kind of thinking it could happen, but then when it actually does it kind of hits you like, “Wow did this just happen?’ It felt real good.”

It also made his opening-night performance that much harder to take.

“It was upsetting,” he said. “Any wide receiver is disappointed when he has a game where he doesn’t do his job like he’s supposed to. That’s what I felt like — I didn’t do my job like I was supposed to. I was glad we got the win.

“I just went home and told myself I have to perform. I can’t have those mental mistakes. It was mental. It’s not like I can’t make those catches.”

Rideau has 10 regular-season games to show what he can do. The three catches he made against Tulsa will stay on his stat sheet, but he’ll treat tonight’s game against Toledo as a fresh start.

“This game is going to help me with my outlook on the rest of the season,” he said. “How I perform in this game will be a starting point.”

Perhaps the entire offense should forget about its 201-yard performance against the Golden Hurricane.

“We’re used to coming out and playing with more confidence and getting things handled,” Rideau said. “It didn’t happen for us, but I think this week we’ll come out and do it.”

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