Waco, Texas ? Recurring daydreams don’t get nearly the analytical play that night dreams and nightmares get. Speaking for all chronic daydreamers, that’s not right.

Daydreamers suffer enough by constantly getting slapped with speeding tickets and forever having to go back to read the previous three pages that were turned without reading a word. Do you have any idea what it’s like constantly needing to dial your own cell phone to try to locate it, only to learn it’s not charged and can’t ring anyway? And now we must withstand the slight of nobody caring enough to analyze our space flights.

For example, for the past several years, every time I watch a Kansas University basketball game, my mind drifts to a place where one of the basketeers is wearing a football helmet with the Trajan-font KU on the side. Just about every time, that player is lined up on the edge, eyes ablaze with quarterback-hatred.

Darnell Jackson, although even better suited to play tight end, had the sort of agility, speed, size and heart to make terrified quarterbacks panic. Let Thomas Robinson loose, and hurried passes would show less touch than Robinson’s free throws.

Robinson, as will teammate Conner Teahan, will stick with basketball, which brings us back to the need to analyze the meaning of daydreams. Dr. Phil was unavailable for comment, so we’ll try to stand in for him.

Let’s see, could it mean that for the past five seasons Kansas has not had the sort of agile, fast, long defensive end who wiggles, hunts and slams his way onto the highlights? That could be it. Since Chartlon Keith’s departure, nobody has done it quite the same way. Ditto for playing without James McClinton in the middle the past three seasons.

Kansas doesn’t make passers uncomfortable, and it’s tough to win in the Big 12 without doing that, without winning the recruiting battles for the defensive ends who call to mind fast power forwards with an extra layer of muscles.

Strong and fairly fast, Jake Laptad has done good work and has a fan in new defensive coordinator Carl Torbush, but he’s not an all-conference talent.

“Jake’s a smart football player,” Torbush said. “He understands leverage. He understands gaps. He understands when he’s going to get a single block and a double block. Jake, even though stat-wise it may not show it, Jake is having a very, very solid year.”

That’s a pretty fair summary of the KU defense in general. Torbush, who has done a nice job of scheming to mask KU’s deficiencies up front, craves extra heat on the quarterback and more turnovers. Look for more of the musical chairs up front that took place against New Mexico State in today’s Big 12 opener at Baylor. KU’s D-tackles can’t out-muscle the Baylor blockers, so why not try to out-quick them by moving Laptad to the middle and having Steven Johnson and/or Toben Opurum fly off the edge?

“Toben’s got a knack for getting to the quarterback,” Torbush said. “He uses his hands really well, and he’s got some speed and quickness.”

Speed, quickness and a strong, accurate arm give Baylor QB Robert Griffin III the advantage today.