The thing about Kansas University sophomore receiver Johnathan Wilson is that, heading into Saturday’s home opener against Florida International, it is not quite clear whether he fits under the umbrella of “Next Big Thing” or “Unproven Entity.”

On the one hand, Wilson beat out a number of talented receivers to earn a starting spot on the Jayhawks’ Week 1 depth chart. On the other, he has caught a total of three passes in his time at Kansas.

On the one hand, he seems to have won over teammates with his dogged work ethic and beefed-up frame. On the other, he has largely gone overlooked as a member of a receiving corps that also includes Dexton Fields (834 yards, six touchdowns in ’07), Dezmon Briscoe (496 yards, seven touchdowns) and Kerry Meier (274 yards, two touchdowns).

“I don’t feel like I’m the forgotten one, but a little bit of a sleeper,” Wilson said. “But I like that, you know what I’m saying? That’s what I was in high school. I was a sleeper. I emerged on the scene late. But I don’t have any problem with that. Eventually, people will know my name.”

As a senior at Houston’s Klein Forest High, Wilson caught 39 passes for 784 yards and 12 touchdowns, meaning that, for every three times he caught a pass, one would turn into a touchdown.

But due to his perceived lack of speed, college coaches seemed to shy away from the 6-foot-3, 187-pound receiver.

Despite his relative obscurity as a prep player, though, he doesn’t seem to lack much hype within the confines of the team’s locker room. Teammates have routinely spoken highly of Wilson throughout KU’s recent training camp, while earlier this summer they voted him the player most likely to surprise people this season.

(It is important to note here that last season, faced with the same question, members of the team selected Marcus Henry, who did nothing except catch 54 passes for 1,014 yards and 10 touchdowns before being drafted in the sixth round of last April’s NFL draft).

“He hasn’t had a lot of publicity yet,” said fellow receiver Kerry Meier on Wednesday. “But I think he’s kind of caught the people’s eye a little bit already. And come Saturday, I think he’s going to catch a lot more people’s eyes.”

And having improved both his speed and knowledge of the team’s offensive system, coaches are convinced he’s got the ability to contribute to the Jayhawks’ offensive attack entering the most anticipated football season in school history.

“He’s starting to play now because he has a good understanding of what he’s doing,” said first-year wide receivers coach David Beaty. “And because he’s playing with confidence, he’s playing faster. He’s able to use all those tools that God’s given him. And that makes him much more of a productive player for us.”

¢Practice fields empty: Meier confirmed Wednesday what has long been rumored to be true about the Kansas football team’s new dual practice fields: they have gone largely unused.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been out there,” Meier said Wednesday. “But those few short days that we were out there, it was great. … Hopefully in the near future, we can get back out there and practice over there.”

The fields were part of the $31 million Anderson Family Football Complex project completed earlier this summer and meant to provide the program with state-of-the-art facilities. However, following concerns over the unrestricted view offered by the fields, KU head coach Mark Mangino elected to practice in the more private Memorial Stadium.

KU associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said last week that a $90,000 project had been approved in which trees would be planted around the practice fields in an effort to provide privacy to the team’s practices – a decision expected to allow the Jayhawks to return to them in the foreseeable future.