QB Brock Berglund’s status popular topic of discussion

One of the most popular questions surrounding the Kansas University football team this summer has centered on the status of freshman quarterback Brock Berglund, a three-star, dual-threat prospect from Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Berglund, who graduated early from Valor Christian High and enrolled at KU in January, missed spring ball for personal reasons that required him to return to Colorado. He was in Lawrence, off and on, during the spring, but did not participate in spring drills.

On June 5, Berglund reported to a meeting of all incoming freshmen and was in town for workouts the following day. Since then, it has been confirmed that he also attended picture day, on June 15, when the Jayhawks had their mug shots taken for the 2011 media guide.

Repeated inquiries about Berglund’s status from various media outlets have yielded the same answer from KU officials — Berglund is enrolled in classes at KU and is expected to be here when practices begin in August.

There’s really no need for them to say more than that. For starters, all of the summer workouts and seven-on-seven sessions the players go through are voluntary. That is to say the coaches cannot require a player to participate. What’s more, KU’s coaches are not allowed to work with their team until preseason practices begin in August.

With that in mind, it’s safe to conclude that the first time we’ll know for sure whether Berglund will be with the Jayhawks this fall is by seeing him on the field when practices begin.

Until then, he’s free to be here as much or as little as he likes.

Chuck Long chats

Tuesday, KU offensive coordinator Chuck Long joined ESPN.com for a 20-minute live chat. In it, he talked a lot about his playing days at Iowa, some about his coaching days, both as an assistant and a head coach, and a little about the current state of the KU program.

Here are the highlights:

Asked about a potential running-back-by-committee approach, Long said, “We’re not talking red-shirting at this time. With the physicality of the Big 12, we’ll need the guys. We’ll let it play out. We do plan on running the football.”

On returning quarterbacks Jordan Webb and Quinn Mecham: “The QBs have been progressing very well. I think they’ve made some steps forward from last year. They had some rough experiences at times, but experience is experience…. We are starting to develop a better foundation there. We feel good about where they’re at.”

Asked about the importance of KU’s offensive line: “Our O-Line is better. We were going in cold last year. We had some experience, but not much. We really have that lined up. We know what they can do…. We feel, with a good run game, we’ll be able to have better pass protection.”

DP & AJ Take On KU Part II

If the second episode of “DP and AJ Take On KU” is anywhere near as entertaining as the first, KU seniors Daymond Patterson and AJ Steward could be staring at legitimate celebrity status.

On Tuesday, Patterson and Steward went head-to-head with KU basketball stars Thomas Robinson and Travis Releford in a game of HORSE. The episode is expected to hit the web on Friday and it’s fair to estimate that thousands of Jayhawk fans will watch.

DP and AJ made a splash a couple of weeks ago with the debut of the summer reality series shown on the Internet. In it, they took on — and defeated — members of the KU women’s soccer team in a penalty kick shootout.

As they celebrated, Steward bulldozed a camera man and sliced up his forehead in the process. The gaffe made it all the way to the desk of ESPN’s College Football Live, where analyst Mark May engaged in a back-and-forth war of words with the two KU football players.

The squabble ended with May inviting the two Jayhawks to Bristol, Conn., for a live debate on ESPN. After initially accepting the challenge — in less than a second — Patterson and Steward opted out, choosing, instead, to remain in Lawrence to focus on preseason conditioning and, of course, future episodes of their hit series.