During Joe Dineen’s freshman season playing football at Kansas, a series of injuries forced the coaching staff to move him to running back, a position Dineen hadn’t played before.

One of the Jayhawks who helped Dineen get acclimated at running back was Brandon Bourbon. Dineen, now a junior linebacker, says news of Bourbon’s death shook the entire program.

“For a lot of the guys that were really close to him, I think it was good to kind of get back to something familiar, like football,” Dineen says of KU’s spring game, an open practice which fans could attend at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, the day after news of Bourbon’s death became public.

“It’s going to go back to the grieving process,” Dineen adds, “but for the short time being, I think it was good for the guys that were really close to him.”

— See what people were saying about Saturday’s spring practice during KUsports.com’s live coverage.