photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas kickoff return man JaCorey Shepherd takes off on a return against Oklahoma State during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The countdown to Kansas University’s spring football game is down to four days now.

Coach Charlie Weis addressed the annual showcase and other topics Tuesday morning with the media.

Here are some of the highlights from the Q & A session, in bullet-point form:

• The format for the spring game will be four 15-minute quarters, with a running clock, except for last two minutes of each half. KU has enough players to split the roster into two different teams and not just do offense vs. defense. Unless a rash of injuries breaks out, they will be able to do two different teams.

• Weis has a rule for the spring game that should make for an exciting second half, instead of players just going through the motions. He won’t unveil the rule until Saturday, but it is all planned out.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas kickoff return man JaCorey Shepherd takes off on a return against Oklahoma State during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

• At a couple of positions, there are two players considered first-string options: left tackle and nickelback. Senior lineman Pat Lewandowski and senior defensive back JaCorey Shepherd will be on the Blue team in the first half, while senior lineman Zach Fondal and sophomore defensive back Greg Allen will play on the White team. At halftime, those players will swap teams, so they will have played with both the first and second units.

• If during the game, due to injury, they have to trade some players, Weis will “set the terms” of the trade.

• Spectators won’t see a red jersey on the quarterbacks on Saturday. Only one player will have a red (no contact) jersey on, and that will be senior receiver Tony Pierson. The quarterbacks will be “live” on each play. Weis has never done that before. When the QB keeps the ball, you never know how many yards they would have gained on a run when they are wearing red and the defense can’t tackle them. The QBs have been hit, sacked plenty of times this spring. The goal is for them not to get hit. … Pierson has been hit, too. The coaches went over the pros and cons, but they determined Pierson has had such a good offseason the last thing they want is for him to get injured on the last day of spring football.

• Weis told offensive coordinator John Reagan not to hold back any plays he wants to run during the spring game. This isn’t like planning for a game, when you’re preparing for an opposing team with certain plays. The whole playbook is available.

• Kansas has more talent and more speed right now than it has had in the past two seasons under Weis. Wide receivers coach Eric Kiesau told Weis Tuesday morning that KU’s starting three wide receivers — Pierson, senior Nick Harwell and junior Rodriguez Coleman — all would have been on the two-deep last season at Washington (Kiesau’s previous employer). That shows KU has made some serious improvements at that position alone.

photo by: Nick Krug

• Pierson was nursing some tightness in his hamstring at practice Saturday, which was open to the media. He wasn’t going as hard as he has been able to. … Pierson is working at both kickoff and punt returning. Returning punts isn’t easy. “You have to be a little bit of a psycho” to take that job and do it well.

• Harwell is working at both return spots, too, as is junior defensive back Kevin Short. “We have some interesting candidates.” You don’t want to lose a valuable player in the return game, but if that guy can help change the game, they want to have him out there.

• Weis will make “common sense” contributions when talking offense with Reagan. It’s been interesting this spring for Weis to see so much more of the team now that he’s not running the offense. It’s been good. It gives Weis the opportunity to challenge the staff and make everybody better.

• When Weis arrived and got rid of so many players from previous coach Turner Gill’s team, he was taking a bad team and making it worse. He did it for the right reason, but he didn’t factor in how limited a roster KU would be left with. Now the roster is pretty full. The infrastructure has been rebuilt and now KU has a predominantly junior and senior team. Usually those are the teams that win. … When they got rid of so many guys, they had to fill holes with junior college players. They couldn’t count on freshmen to fill the gap.

• Looking at the WR spot, KU will lose four players after this season. Realistically, they will have to go half and half recruiting to replace those holes — half high school and half junior college. The same goes for KU’s O-line and defensive backs, too

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas offensive lineman Damon Martin, left, works with other offensive lineman during drills at a KU football practice Saturday, April 5, 2014, at Memorial Stadium.

• KU’s offensive line has had continuity this spring. The guy who is the strongest is junior Damon Martin, so he’s at right tackle with senior Mike Smithburg next to him. The coaches were ready to adapt when they had a bunch of talented guards. Some shuffling got the most talent on the field.

• There are tiers at the QB position, as far as the depth chart is concerned. If they had to play an actual game in two weeks, it would be between senior Jake Heaps and sophomore Montell Cozart. And it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they both played because they do different things. The coaches are ready to gear themselves toward who will be the main guy. The longer KU goes without naming a starter at QB, the tougher it will be for the competition to prepare.

• Kansas doesn’t want to take senior linebacker Ben Heeney off the field, but he will have to rest at some point. Junior LB Schyler Miles is close to junior Jake Love as far as the depth chart goes, and who will replace Heeney at times.

• At the spring game, Weis would like the fans to have some fun. Come halftime the game will get very interesting. He would like to be in the second half with the players having a little pressure on them to win. Weis also wants the offensive operation to show efficiency. … Several players will get an opportunity to play a lot more snaps than they have at practices this spring. It gives them an opportunity: Let’s see what you’ve got. Of course, they want to come out injury-free, too.

• The biggest accomplishments this spring, defense and offense: With junior defensive lineman Andrew Bolton’s play on the end, senior defensive lineman Keon Stowers can play inside. … The defense is now in its second year, and that gave the players an opportunity to turn it loose. Most of the guys are retuning guys. … On offense, most of it was getting the system installed. The players need to be used to running a no-huddle offense.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart throws as he gets protection from offensive lineman Ngalu Fusimalohi during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013.

• Cozart has completed a high percentage of his passes this spring. The one thing he brings that is unique is his feet. He has a chance to be a really good player.

• Sophomore QB T.J. Millweard, who transferred from UCLA, is the newest member of that QB group and he is coming off his best practice to date. Whether he makes his way up the depth chart this year or next, Weis knows he will keep working to get there. His mental aptitude is there and he has to catch up physically.

• Next week, in the days following spring game, players will hear from the coaching staff about where they stand.

• Kansas has a number of older guys who are experienced. Because of that, they won’t pick captains until right before the season begins. It’s tough to be a leader when you’re not playing, so the guys who end up captains will be front-line players.

• Harwell is a natural leader. Weis is glad they have him. He’s a hard worker, the wide receivers follow him and he jumps on everybody. “Thank you, Miami of Ohio.”

• Weis does believe that if you have two quarterbacks you don’t have one, but that’s not the case if you use them in different ways. KU would feature one set of plays with Heaps and another set when Cozart is on the field.

• Weis said to the team last December: It’s time. Kansas football has been down for five seasons. The No. 1 thing is these veterans have to get KU back to winning. That’s the first major hurdle for the program to get over. Then you shoot for the moon. Players can’t worry about the expectation on the street or in the media. They have to set their own bar and can’t settle for anything but attaining their goals.

— Listen to the press conference in its entirety by clicking here: Charlie Weis talks spring game, KU football depth

http://www2.kusports.com/videos/2014/apr/07/35889/