Kansas quarterback Kerry Meier throws laterally to a receiver against Toledo on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Kerry Meier expected his sophomore season to be a strikingly new experience to him. It is to everyone else.

Tapped as Kansas University’s starting quarterback as a freshman, Meier lost his job to Todd Reesing before this season and is now a backup. Considering KU’s domination of its first three opponents, Meier has played plenty with the game out of reach. He’s 9-of-11 passing for 82 yards and two touchdowns this season.

“You would think it would be a lot different, but it really is not,” Meier said. “In football, you are only one play away. So when you go into games, you have to prepare like anything could happen.”

While Reesing certainly hasn’t disappointed, Meier gives the Jayhawks a sense of security at a position plagued with inconsistency throughout the tenure of sixth-year coach Mark Mangino.

Injuries have knocked out just about every quarterback Mangino has started since 2002. That includes Meier, who missed parts of five games because of a shoulder ailment last season.

Meier, the youngest of four football-playing brothers, is the only one in college these days. But he’s not the only one still playing football. Dylan Meier, the former Kansas State quarterback, is finishing up his first season as a quarterback overseas in the German Football League.

¢The next slash?: Chris Harris has thought about it.

KU’s freshman cornerback has been stuck on the sideline during the Jayhawks’ offensive drives this season, watching his fellow corner, Aqib Talib, enter the game as a receiver and dazzle the Memorial Stadium crowd.

So does Harris, a former receiver in high school, ever lobby for some offensive repetitions himself?

“Probably when I’m a junior or senior, I’ll try to get in some action like that,” Harris said with a laugh. “You’ve got to earn that.”

¢Local guy: There is one Kansas player from Florida – wide receiver Tertavian Ingram. Florida International has no players from Kansas.

The strongest tie, therefore, might be FIU offensive-line coach Greg Laffere. Laffere is originally from Basehor and played at Butler Community College for two years before helping win a national title at Miami (Fla.) in 2001. He’s in his first year at FIU after spending the last two seasons at Illinois State.

¢This, that: Florida International coach Mario Cristobal, 36, is the second-youngest head coach in the Bowl Subdivision. Only Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, 32, is younger. : The Panthers are playing their home games in the Orange Bowl this year while a 45,000-seat stadium is constructed on campus. : KU last went 3-0 in 2005 and lost the fourth game, 30-17, at Texas Tech. : Kansas hasn’t started 4-0 in a season since 1995, when the Jayhawks started 7-0 and eventually went 10-2, winning the Aloha Bowl.