Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart (2) passes over the top of the Central Michigan defense during their game on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

photo by: John Young

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart (2) passes over the top of the Central Michigan defense during their game on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

Here’s a quick look back at a few grades from Saturday’s 24-10 victory over Central Michigan….

• Montell Cozart — B

Cozart completed 70 percent of his passes and pretty much did everything that was asked of him. He threw two touchdown passes and one interception (which wasn’t his fault) and helped give the KU offense much better flow and rhythm than it had the week before against Duke. His performance didn’t wow anybody, but, he executed the game plan well, got multiple receivers involved and made a couple of key throws when he had to. Given the conservative nature of the game plan, he played a solid game.

• Jake Love — A

What can you say about this guy that does him any justice? Quiet. Under the radar. Hard worker. Not interested in headlines. All he does is go out there and play as hard as he can and make plays. Never was that more obvious than when he used his terrific instincts to blow up two CMU screen plays late in the game and, moments earlier, beat the would-be block of a CMU running back on his way to a monster sack. His play was fantastic, but it was his emotion that made the biggest impact. This was merely the latest big game from Love in a long line of them and it was cool to see him get some props for it.

photo by: Richard Gwin

KU's junior linebacker Jake Love puts a big sack on Central Michigan's quarterback Cooper Rush (10) at Memorial Stadium, as the Hawks came home the winner 24-10.

• Nigel King — B

King caught just three balls for 17 yards, with a long gain of 7 yards, but it was one of the most impressive three-catch, 17-yard games I’ve seen. It wasn’t necessarily the stats that made King stand out, it was the way he went about getting them. The guy’s a veteran. He’s solid. He’s where he’s supposed to be. He runs good routes, flashes good hands and blocks when he’s asked to block. Nothing about him is flashy, but, more important than that, nothing about him radiates anything but a polished player in control of his role and doing what he’s asked to do. It’s only a matter of time before King breaks through with a touchdown over the top.

• Andrew Bolton — C
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The junior-college transfer who missed last season is still trying to adjust to Div. I football continues to look a step or two out of sync. Bolton still looks like he’s thinking too much out there instead of playing on instincts and, on one play in the first half, he had CMU quarterback Cooper Rush dead to rights and instead of lowering the boom or wrapping him up, he simply reached out for him and watched the savvy Rush step up in the pocket right past him for a big gain. Bolton’s still got time to get there and, he’s still pretty raw. But he’s definitely not there yet.

photo by: John Young

Kansas' Michael Reynolds (55) and Courtney Arnick (28) team up to sack Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush during the second half of their game Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

• Courtney Arnick — A

Arnick was everywhere on Saturday, finishing with four tackles, including one of the Jayhawk’s three sacks. Known mostly for his speed an athleticism, Arnick showed he can get physical, too. Just a sophomore, the speedy Dallas native could make it hard for coaches to keep him off the field with more efforts like Saturday’s. As Weis put it, “Arnick showed up today.”

• Larry Mazyck — C

A couple of false start penalties and one play where he leaked downfield a tick early made for a long afternoon for Mazyck. He was starting his first game in place of right tackle Damon Martin, who was out with an illness, and nobody knew Martin would miss the game until late in the week so Mazyck didn’t have a ton of time to work with the knowledge that he would be the guy. Weis said Mazyck’s made great progress in terms of his conditioning since his arrival. Now it’s time for him to take a step forward in his execution.

UNIT GRADES — in 10 words or less…

Pass Offense: B- Nothing fancy, but fancy not needed.

Run Offense: C- Line struggled and backs never really got going.

Pass Defense: B- Couple of missed sacks led to big completions.

Run Defense: B+ CMU averaged 2.9 ypc and gained just 101 yards.

Special Teams: C A couple decent returns, but another missed field goal.

photo by: John Young

Kansas senior Ben Heeney (31) applies preesure to Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush (10) during the second half of their game Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

Most Impressive Unit: Linebackers – Jake Love, Ben Heeney and Courtney Arnick were among KU’s best players on defense on Saturday and, together, they combined for 16 tackles, seven for loss and two sacks.

Least Impressive Unit: Offensive Line – Good thing the gameplan was for Cozart to get rid of the ball quickly, because, if it hadn’t been, Cozart might have been on his back a lot. The line was pushed back often, struggled to open holes for the KU running backs and looked a little out of sorts with first-time starters Larry Mazyck and Bryan Peters filling in for Damon Martin and Mike Smithburg, who missed the game with medical issues.

photo by: John Young

Kansas senior receiever Tony Pierson looks up field after making a catch in the flat during Kansas' game against Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

MVP: WR Tony Pierson. There’s no telling what kind of game this would’ve been if KU didn’t jump out to that early lead on the first play of the game. Fortunately for the Jayhawks, they didn’t have to find out.

Hidden Heroes: OL Pat Lewandowski and Ngalu Fusimalohi. With the right side of the offensive line being held down by second stringers, the left side stepped up both in protecting Cozart and in opening what few holes there were for KU’s backs to run. Never was that more evident than on Pierson’s opening TD run and on Lewandowski’s freeing block on Corey Avery’s game-icing touchdown reception.

Better Luck Next Time: PK Matthew Wyman. The sophomore missed yet another field goal. His misses in the first two games were excusable. One was blocked from 50-plus and the other, also from 50-plus, was a desperation try just before halftime. Saturday’s miss came from 35 yards out at a critical moment late in the third quarter. Wyman’s been OK so far this year, but KU can’t afford for its kicker to miss much, particularly now that Big 12 play is upon us.