Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing pulls back to pass during the first half, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 at Memorial Stadium.Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo.Kansas University quarterback Todd Reesing

Something zapped Aqib Talib.

It was a beautiful play, that 58-yard touchdown catch against Toledo last week. Kansas University quarterback Todd Reesing scrambled right, threw it just as he was getting tackled, and Talib was 30 yards downfield ready to catch and turn for a big gain.

And then he got zapped.

Talib jumped for the football when he didn’t need to jump. His legs were flailing, like he was riding an invisible bicycle. He caught the ball in his gut, landed, turned and looked.

Nobody was there to tackle him.

“He attacked the ball,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “I told him, ‘It looked like someone jolted you with electricity.'”

Well :

OK, so it wasn’t exactly an electric shock. Talib told Mangino he thought he was in traffic and wanted to secure the ball.

But, really, how could anyone not be jolted by a big play like that one?

For years, fans have been begging for KU’s football team to get vertical in the passing game, a facet of the offense that hasn’t really been successful since the Bill Whittemore-led 2003 team.

Those same fans are quite content so far this season. The Jayhawks have been an entertaining offensive show, with five touchdown catches for more than 35 yards in the first three games.

Deep balls are a risky venture. The play takes a long time to develop, the defense is in no mood to allow it, and the success rate of the throw-and-catch plummets every yard the ball travels.

But for the first time in years, the Jayhawks are airing it out because they feel – at long last – like the risk is worth the reward.

“As a whole, big plays on offense get the whole team fired up,” Reesing said. “It gets the fans excited and gets them behind us even more. It’s definitely a momentum changer and something we want to continue to do.”

The slinger

Reesing’s capabilities might be the No. 1 component of the deep ball.

KU’s strong-armed sophomore quarterback showed his ability to air it out in the opening game this season, when he launched the ball 51 yards in the air and hit Talib in perfect stride for a touchdown against Central Michigan.

Reesing said he could probably wing it 65 yards if he had to. And considering the speed of some of his targets, that might be necessary some day.

Still, Reesing has proven to be composed enough not to look for a home run no matter the circumstances – perhaps why the vertical game has worked well so far.

“I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of not trying to force downfield throws,” Reesing said. “I feel most of the time I’ve thrown downfield, our receivers had a pretty legitimate chance of being open or making a play.

“I’ve got to continue to do that, because if I try to force balls downfield trying to make big plays, that’s when mistakes happen and interceptions happen.”

Obviously, it hasn’t happened yet – Reesing has 831 passing yards this season with 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Furthermore, none of Reesing’s deep balls have been dramatically underthrown, the kiss of death when trying to make a big play.

“He’s been doing a good job so far,” offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said. “He’s made pretty good decisions in the first three games. We just have to keep that going.”

The targets

The other end of that equation – the pass catcher – requires good hands and great speed. Nothing less.

Reesing’s six longest completions this year have gone to two targets: Talib, a full-time cornerback whose athleticism will land him an NFL contract, and Marcus Henry, a 6-foot-4 wideout who recorded the team’s fastest 40-yard dash time in the offseason.

Talib has racked up receptions of 58, 49 and 36 yards in the first three games, all for touchdowns. Henry, meanwhile, has gains of 66, 46 and 42 yards in the first three games – each one a utilization of Henry’s strengths

“It certainly does,” Mangino said. “But he runs all the routes that we ask the other receivers. He runs the under routes, intermediate routes, deep balls. He’s capable of all of them.”

The deep balls, of course, are where Henry has gathered a large chunk of his 355 receiving yards this season. Coupled with Talib’s weekly firework, Kansas has four touchdown passes longer than 40 yards in the first three games.

In 12 games last year, the Jayhawks had just two.

Scoring and statistics aside, an effective vertical-passing game also can be big for the mental edge of an offense – while at the same time rattling the confidence of the opposing defense.

“It makes the DB’s play off some, and that opens up the short game,” Henry said, “It just helps the offense a little bit more.”

The reward

Interestingly enough, the longest passing touchdown in the Mangino era was a 78-yard strike from Adam Barmann to Brandon Rideau against Oklahoma in 2004.

That play was the result of botched coverage, and Rideau ran some 50 yards after the catch with nobody near him.

Obviously, the stars have to align for a play that long to unfold – perhaps a receiver getting behind coverage, a defender having a brain cramp, a perfect throw from a quarterback able to sling it.

But in many cases, it takes the desire to go for a home run like that in the first place – something Kansas obviously has acquired as it gets rolling in 2007.

“It’s important that we stress the defense vertically,” Warinner said. “We want to throw some vertical passes during every game, and we just try to pick our spots. When we get the right coverages and get the right matchups, we try to do that.”