Every Tuesday last season, Kansas University’s football team went through its most demanding practice of the week. And every Tuesday, fatigued running back Jon Cornish would stand on the sideline and watch.

Tuesday was Jake Sharp’s day, a necessity because of the pounding Cornish took during the previous Saturday’s game. Getting 20 touches against defenders who live to crush a ball-carrier can have a running back worn slick for days. Sharp’s midweek job as a true freshman was to keep the offense motoring while Cornish healed.

“You can tell a big difference from getting 10 carries to 20 carries,” Sharp said.

Which is one advantage to KU’s two-headed-monster approach in 2007. With Cornish playing in the CFL, Sharp has been pushed into the spotlight this season.

But he shares it.

It also shines on Brandon McAnderson, creating a committee-like approach that changes the tempo, plays to each player’s strengths and keeps both sets of legs fresh for the fourth quarter – and for the practice field when preparing for the next game.

Not any tandem could make this work. But Sharp and McAnderson, who are good friends, have fun with the approach.

“Neither one has any ego as far as having demands or needing certain amount of this,” offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “They just want to know, ‘What do you want me to do?'”

The setup

Through KU’s first two games, it appears that McAnderson gets a few more repetitions than Sharp, perhaps because of his superior blocking skills.

But the decision-making of who goes in for what series isn’t pre-determined and not incredibly calculated.

“We prepare them both, and we kind of go with the flow of the game,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “There are certain situations that we prefer one or the other to be in, and we do that. But to be quite honest with you, it’s kind of a flow thing during the game.”

Mangino said before the season opener that he expected McAnderson to get more reps, and that has been true. But in KU’s first two games – a 52-7 victory over Central Michigan and a 62-0 rout of Southeastern Louisiana – there have been plenty of opportunities for both backs, and even some touches for true freshman Carmon Boyd-Anderson.

McAnderson, a senior out of Lawrence High, has 27 carries for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Sharp, a sophomore out of Salina, counters with 23 carries for 138 yards and two scores of his own.

“We’ve exposed them to the whole offense, and we have a pretty good feel for what their strengths are,” offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “Now we just want to play to their strengths.”

Different approach

Texas A&M might have the most night-and-day running back tandem in the Big 12 Conference, with 274-pound bowling ball Jorvorskie Lane complementing 190-pound speedster Mike Goodson wonderfully.

Kansas, though, has a similar, scaled-down version. McAnderson is 235 pounds but has tailback tendencies, including good change-of-direction for his size.

Sharp, meanwhile, brings an extra bolt of quickness when he enters and excels in open space.

“It’s really good. It’s a good change-up,” said Sharp, who also has a receiving touchdown. “It’s hard for the defense to get in the rhythm of how they’re going to stop our running back, because we’re completely different running styles. I think it’s really good for us.”

Sharp hears the defense keeping track of who’s in the game, calling out “Number 1’s in the backfield!” for Sharp or “3-5’s in the backfield!” for McAnderson.

While Mangino doesn’t think the opposition game-plans separately for each back, he acknowledges that the individual defenders might struggle with the constant change of pace.

It’s priceless, though, that one can be effective on the field while the other is on the sideline resting. Both play on special teams, and coupled with the normal beating the body takes, keeping the legs as fresh as possible is a luxury not many running backs can have.

“Those linebackers are about 230,” Sharp said. “Me and Mac will always talk. He’ll always say how he’s feeling, and I’m like, ‘Hey man, try weighing about 185.'”

The jokes go back and forth. The two playfully argue about who sets whom up, and there’s also the documented preseason trash-talking stemming from McAnderson calling Sharp “a weirdo.”

It’s all good, though. The chemistry between the two is allowing a two-headed monster to loom large in KU’s backfield. It’ll only help as the season grinds on.

“Me and Brandon, we’re real good pals,” Sharp said. “We work as a team, the two of us. We feel like we’re the running back corps, and how the success comes, we don’t care. As long as there’s success.”