Ryan Wood’s KU football notebook

Kansas is working under a modified offense, though it’s not a complete makeover that schools such as Baylor have undergone recently.

“I’d say probably no more than 50 percent of it is new stuff,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “There’s a lot of stuff we retained. It’s not a completely overhauled offense.”

Specifically, the coach said that wide-receiver setups haven’t changed drastically – at least not yet.

“We’re not using any more receivers than we did last year,” Mangino said. “Are we moving some formations around? Yes we are. Can we grow and develop into that? That’s a possibility.

“But we used three or four receivers last year, and not a whole lot has changed in that respect.”

¢Flip flop: KU has swapped Anthony Collins and Cesar Rodriguez on the offensive line.

Collins, the more imposing player with more upside, has moved from right tackle to left, with Rodriguez moving to the right.

Collins will have the task of protecting the quarterback’s blindside.

“He’s probably one of the best offensive tackles in the league,” defensive tackle James McClinton said of Collins. “He’s aggressive, he’s nasty, confident, cocky. That’s something that the left offensive tackle needs.”

¢New guys: There are four new scholarship players practicing with the team this spring: junior-college transfers Patrick Resby, Kendrick Harper and Chet Hartley and early high school graduate Drew Dudley.

Free safety Darrell Stuckey is impressed with Resby, a safety, and Harper, a cornerback.

“They adopted the team concept,” Stuckey said. “They’re hard-working. They took the conditioning aspect head-on. They came in pretty good, and they know a lot about football.”

Mangino had high praise for Harper, who’s expected to provide immediate depth at cornerback.

¢Quick hits: Mangino said that Marcus Henry has all but locked up the “X” receiver starting spot. The X receiver lines up out wide at the line of scrimmage. : All-Big 12 cornerback Aqib Talib, who was the alleged victim of a gun-pointing incident Sunday in downtown Lawrence, was practicing with the team Wednesday. : Also in attendance was Free State High senior Ryan Murphy, a KU signee. : The Jayhawks will open their practice next Wednesday to the public. Tentative start time is 3:45 p.m. at the practice fields adjacent to Hoglund Ballpark.