Cover boy

KU utility man Kerry Meier is on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated, a tremendously popular magazine with 3 million subscribers.

Meier is shown catching his touchdown pass in the second quarter of KU’s 45-7 victory over Iowa State on Saturday. The words, “Dream Season (So Far)” are underneath.

It’s believed to be the first time that KU football has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, though Jayhawk basketball has made multiple appearances, and former KU track great Jim Ryun was on the cover in 1966.

Collins update

KU coach Mark Mangino was asked Tuesday if he was confident that left tackle Anthony Collins would be able to play after sitting out the Iowa State game.

“Am I confident of that? I’m not absolutely confident of that,” Mangino said. “I feel pretty good about the prospects of him playing.”

Collins, a finalist for the Outland Trophy, warmed up with the team last week with a noticeable limp, but never left the sideline once the game started.

Not a problem

Mangino was a little more sure about the health of quarterback Todd Reesing, who has been hobbled slightly by an ankle injury the last two weeks.

“He’s fine,” Mangino said.

Reesing, for what it’s worth, was asked after the game how his ankle was feeling.

“I’m fine,” Reesing said. “We’re 11-0. I feel great.”

A longer visit?

With all 79,451 seats at Arrowhead Stadium accounted for Saturday, it’s obvious there will be a strong case toward renewing the KU-MU Arrowhead contract beyond 2008.

But that’s for another day, according to associate athletic director Jim Marchiony.

“We have not discussed it,” Marchiony said. “We’ll probably discuss it sometime after this game. But we have not discussed it yet.”

They’re smart

A total of 14 Jayhawks were named Academic All-Big 12, the league office announced Tuesday.

Of those, 11 were first-team selections, meaning they had a 3.2 grade-point average or higher while participating in 60 percent of the team’s contests.

They are: Reesing, Russell Brorsen, Brian Seymour, Scott Webb, Jeff Foster, John Larson, Micah Brown, Sadiq Muhammed, Mike Rivera, Jake Sharp and Jeff Wheeler.

Brorsen and Seymour were recognized for perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Players of the week

Despite Reesing being named Big 12 co-offensive player of the week for his strong play against Iowa State, the KU coaches chose to honor both Meier and Dexton Fields as the team’s offensive players of the week. Chris Harris was honored on defense, and Justin Springer was cited for special teams.