Talk about commitment.

Try rising before 6 a.m. — in the offseason — to run wind sprints, distances and other conditioning drills that are about as fun as being blindsided by a blocker.

Then, upon completion, realizing class, tutors and an intense session in the weight room await before a cozy bed again will welcome you.

Sound like a hoot? Because of the reward, many Kansas University football players don’t mind. In winter, that’s what they do behind the scenes.

“It’s a commitment,” KU strength and conditioning coach Chris Dawson said. “I know coach (Mark) Mangino recruits the type of kids that are here to win. We’ve got a lot we need to improve on in terms of getting bigger, faster and stronger.”

Dawson, in his second year, worked extensively with Mangino after last year’s 4-7 season, putting

together unique strength-training programs for every player on the roster.

That means two offensive linemen, while at the same position, won’t have the same regimen. Ditto for linebackers, wide receivers, running backs and everyone else.

“Every player has their own individual workout,” Dawson said. “They are customized, number one, by position. Very position-specific, and then more so individually.”

The workouts were less intense in the weeks between KU’s season-ending victory over Missouri and winter break. But since the players returned last month, the conditioning demands have been turned up a notch. Until spring football starts, likely in mid-March, morning runs will be a mainstay, as will lifting every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the spacious Anderson Family Strength and Conditioning Center.

Once spring ball begins, the lifting will cut back to three days a week, again focusing on whatever it takes to maximize a player’s potential.

“It’s all related to how they perform on the field,” Dawson said. “We’re not here to be power lifters. That’s not what this is about. Everything we do in here and in our drill work is geared for them to perform better on Saturday.”

It’s a two-way street, of course. Dawson only can do so much in preparing them for the 2005 season, but he said the players’ commitment had been impressive.

“They’re working hard,” Dawson said. “Coach Mangino is not going to have it any other way.”

¢

Still no 11th game: Though KU officials are close to completing the 2005 football schedule, KU senior associate athletics director Larry Keating said nothing was a done deal.

“The second we have a contract in the mail, we’ll release something,” Keating said Tuesday. “We don’t have one yet.”

KU is looking for a nonconference opponent to fill its Sept. 10 vacancy. Currently, Florida Atlantic is scheduled for Sept. 3, and Louisiana Tech is slated for Sept. 17. Both are home games, and KU hopes the third one will be, too.

¢

Leavenworth LB coming: Adam Booth, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker from Leavenworth, declined several Division Two scholarship offers to join KU as a preferred walk-on, Pioneers coach Tom Young said.

“I think it’s a good decision for him,” Young said. “It’s something I think he’s always wanted to do.”

Booth also was Leavenworth’s quarterback, passing for 762 yards and nine touchdowns in 2004.