New head football coach Turner Gill is introduced to the Jayhawk Nation at a press conference on Monday.

Those observing the Kansas University football team’s first week of spring practices would do well not to read too much into what they see.

Yes, the foundation for the 2010 season — and, really, the future of Kansas football — is being put into place, and, yes, the way the coaches operate this week likely will be the way they work throughout the season.

But outside of getting to see his new players in action for the first time since arriving in Lawrence, KU coach Turner Gill isn’t in any hurry to put his players into specific spots on the depth chart.

“We’re going to evaluate on what we see,” Gill said before Sunday’s practice. “We’re not just going to guess on what they might have done in the past, but (we want to see) what they’re able to do right now. We’re going to adjust to what our talent is.”

Want proof? Although many of the players given the first opportunity during live drills on Sunday figure to be starters when the season rolls around, a few key contributors from the past couple of years were more toward the back of the line.

Sophomore Kale Pick was the first quarterback out during most offensive drills, as were sophomore running back Toben Opurum and wideouts Bradley McDougald, Daymond Patterson and Johnathan Wilson.

The offensive line was — from left to right — Tanner Hawkinson, Trevor Marrongelli, Jeremiah Hatch, Sal Capra and Brad Thorson, leaving Jeff Spikes to run with a different unit.

Defensively, returning starters Chris Harris and Jake Laptad also watched others go through drills before them.

“They definitely have thrown it out there that everybody’s at the same level, everybody has a clean slate, and everybody’s competing for positions right now,” Harris said. “It seemed like it took forever to get here, with us not going to a bowl last year and everything. But it finally got here. I’m happy to be back out.”

Harris said the biggest challenge from the first day was learning new schemes, new terminology and new faces. But he also said the energy shown by the new coaching staff carried over to the players.

According to Gill, that’s the idea behind the first week of drills.

“We’re not going to make a whole lot of changes here in the next few days,” he said. “About a week from now, we’ll probably try to establish an initial depth chart. As long as they get better each and every day at what we’re trying to accomplish — at every phase — we want everybody to go out there and show their skills.”

The way McDougald sees it, that should not be a problem.

“It’s a lot of fighting for positions all across the board,” he said. “From wide receivers to defensive ends, it doesn’t matter. Everyone’s out there competing.”