Kale Pick out 3 weeks with leg injury

Kansas quarterback Kale Pick warms up before kickoff against North Dakota State University, Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010 at Kivisto Field. Pick will be making his first start as quarterback.

Kansas University football coach Turner Gill said Sunday night that second-string quarterback Kale Pick sustained a leg injury during Saturday’s victory against New Mexico State and will be out of action for three weeks.

Pick, a sophomore from Dodge City, began the season as the Jayhawks’ starting quarterback but was pulled in the fourth quarter of the season-opening loss to North Dakota State in favor of red-shirt freshman Jordan Webb. He never regained the starting job.

Pick checked into Saturday’s game in the fourth quarter, when the victory was well in hand. He completed his only pass of the game and gained 15 yards on his only carry, which appeared to be the played he was injured on. After being tackled, Pick came up limping but stayed in the game to run out the clock.

Gill declined to go into more detail about the injury Sunday night, calling it only “a leg injury,” but multiple reports indicated that Pick’s leg was broken.

With Pick out, Gill said junior college transfer Quinn Mecham will be the Jayhawks’ second-string quarterback and wide receiver/quarterback Christian Matthews will slide into the third-string role.

Mecham, who came to KU out of Snow College in Utah, has not played this season. Matthews has played receiver in all four games, but caught his first pass of the season — a 41-yard gain — during Saturday’s victory.

The Jayhawks (2-2) will travel to Waco, Texas on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff against Baylor (3-1) in the Big 12 opener for both teams.