One of the best rebounders in the Big 12 Conference, Wesley Johnson was moved from forward to shooting guard for his sophomore season at Iowa State University.

The shift was not designed to give the 6-foot-7, 210-pound Johnson – who grabbed a team-leading 244 boards last year (sixth best mark by a freshman in Big 12 history) – more room to maneuver on the court.

It was out of necessity.

ISU entered 2007-08 short at guard after coach Greg McDermott dismissed Mike Taylor from the team and after the NCAA deemed freshman Lucca Staiger of Germany ineligible.

“We didn’t have any choice to be honest with you,” McDermott said. “We had to try to get our best players on the floor.”

Johnson is averaging 13.9 points, up from last year’s 12.3 average, and 3.8 boards, down from last year’s 7.9 mark.

“Wesley is probably playing slightly out of position, McDermott said. “For him it’s a good thing. He’s having to handle the ball versus pressure, play against quickness on both ends of the floor, something he didn’t have to do a lot last year because he generally was guarded by a power forward.”

Johnson, who is joined in the backcourt by 6-1 Bryan Petersen (5.6 points, 3.4 assists) still is not fully recovered from a foot injury that sidelined him the first four games.

“He’s not totally in shape and his timing’s not totally back, but we see a few more things every game that we didn’t see the game before, and we’re seeing them on a daily basis in practice,” McDermott told the Ames Tribune.

“So he’s coming along.”

Johnson averaged 22 points and 7.5 rebounds in the Cyclones’ wins against Missouri and Oklahoma State last week, earning Big 12 Player of the Week honors in the process.

“He had his foot in a boot a month,” McDermott explained. “When that happens, not only are you losing conditioning, but you are losing timing. It takes quite an amount of time to get it back. It’s going to be Feb. 1 before he’s back doing the things we all expected him to do. For us that can’t get here soon enough.”

ISU’s second leading scorer is Craig Brackins, a 6-10 freshman forward, who averages 12.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Rahshon Clark, a 6-6 senior, contributes 10.5 points and 5.8 boards. Jiri Hubalek, a 6-11, 240-pound senior big man, adds 12.2 points and 7.3 boards.

“They are very big, probably the longest team we play all year,” KU coach Bill Self said. “We can not allow their size to dictate the game. If we do that we’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

The Cyclones enter at 12-6 overall and 2-1 in the league, just one game off KU’s perfect 3-0 league mark.

“They are playing very well. They had Baylor down five or six at the half at Baylor,” Self said.

ISU led Baylor, 38-31, at the break before ultimately losing, 74-67.

“Greg has done a great job recruiting. We know we’re going to get a great effort. They run so many different sets. You have to defend every possession and be prepared to play grind it out games,” Self said.

¢Recruiting: Tyrone Appleton, a 6-3, 195-pound sophomore guard from Midland (Texas) College, will make an official recruiting trip to KU this weekend. He will attend Saturday’s 12:45 p.m. game against Nebraska.

Appleton, who averages 12.7 points and 5.5 assists per game, scored 28 points in Midland’s last game, a loss to Odessa Junior College.

“I have the ability to play both guard positions, but I’ve been playing the point guard position this season,” Appleton told Shay Wildeboor of Rivals.com. “I really love playing the point guard position, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”

The No. 3-rated juco prospect in the Class of 2008 is considering KU, Kentucky, Texas, Iowa State and San Jose State.

“I am good friends with Cookie Miller (of Nebraska), so I am excited to watch the game,” Appleton said of Saturday’s KU-NU contest. “Kansas is very high up on my list.”