KU in the spotlight at day two of Big 12 Media Days

Kansas head football coach Mark Mangino and media members listen to a question during an interview session at the 2008 Big 12 football media days today at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. Mangino will talk to reporters at the 2009 media days Tuesday in Irving, Texas.

? Everywhere Mark Mangino turned, they kept asking him about “expectations.”

How do you get your guys prepared for the kind of expectations they’re about to face?

What’s it like going into a season with so many expectations surrounding your team?

Talk about the expectations that your team has after what it accomplished last year.

“We embrace those expectations,” said Mangino, the Kansas University football coach. “Because there was a time when I first arrived here that there were no expectations for Kansas’ football program.”

Indeed. Entering a season in which “expectations” are at an all-time high and the team will look to battle for its first Big 12 championship in school history, Kansas football has never been bigger.

At least it seemed that way during Tuesday’s Big 12 Media Days at Kansas City’s Marriott Downtown.

All morning, dozens of reporters shoved microphones in Todd Reesing’s face and scribbled down Mike Rivera’s thoughts and laughed at Darrell Stuckey’s jokes. They surrounded Mangino, the reigning national coach of the year, and threw out words like “arrived” and “over the hump.”

On a day that also featured former conference powers Kansas State and Colorado, as well as Oklahoma State, the Jayhawks stole the show.

“I think there’s really a buzz around Lawrence,” said Reesing, who passed for 3,486 yards and 33 touchdowns as a sophomore. “People are excited about this football team and (about) what we can do after the success we had last year.”

And the success, to be sure, has been sweet. Between recruiting bonuses (“We’re at least able to make our pitch,” Mangino said, “whereas some kids, a year ago, three years ago, wouldn’t even pay attention to us”) and attendance boosts (“In passing, some administrators have told me sales are going extremely well”), the Jayhawks can now consider themselves, at least for the moment, among the conference’s elite programs.

“We won’t be underestimated,” is how safety Darrell Stuckey put it. “I know that for a fact.”

There are questions, of course, on the eve of this heavily anticipated season. Who will replace former 1,000-yard running back Brandon McAnderson? What will become of the defense following the departure of two all-Americans and a top-of-the-line defensive coordinator? How will a beefed-up schedule affect the team’s final record?

But on Tuesday morning, in a ballroom full of reporters, the focus among players seemed to rest on a return to prominence in 2008.

“We want to be in that situation,” senior linebacker Mike Rivera said.

“We wanted to have a great year last year, and we want to have a great year this year. We have a lot of big games this year, and we’re going to have a lot of big challenges.

“But that’s what we want.”