One thing I’ve learned about college football players during the past handful of years is that they’re not stupid.

That was on full display Monday at practice No. 11 of preseason camp, where the lessons the Kansas University football players learned over the weekend during their first live scrimmage clearly had an impact on their sense of urgency.

As they took the field I heard a couple of guys barking, “Just like Saturday all over again. Just like Saturday.” Others, like senior center Keyon Haughton, were seen getting after teammates on the sideline between drills.

Moments after losing a drill to the first-team defense, Haughton, who has been working as the first-team center during most of camp, was jacked up and yelling, “Let’s go, let’s go. Push. Push, fellas,” after doing the up-downs that the losing team was required to do.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Haughton minded doing the extra conditioning work. I think he’s just really starting to feel the beginning of the season roaring around the corner.

• Speaking of urgency, boy was special teams coach Gary Hyman fired up — even by Hyman’s standards — during an early-practice special teams drill. While working on punt protection, Hyman was screaming like a mad man trying to get his guys to give max effort. That’s nothing new, but his choice of words was. He used things like “September 5th,” “those guys” and “get it together.” The “those guys” he was referring to, of course, are the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and they’re coming to KU on Sept. 5 for the season opener. “We gotta be stout,” Hyman said. “Those guys are gonna blitz (this specific spot) every time and they’re not gonna dance. So don’t dance.” Like I said, everyone around camp is starting to operate like that season opener really is just a couple of weeks away.

• I really like watching safety Bazie Bates work. He’s full speed all the time and you can tell that he’s not taking his opportunity to play D-I football lightly. He’s here to work and isn’t taking for granted the fact that he might very well be the most talented safety on the roster. This showed up today during a special teams coverage drill, when he ran full speed the entire time — as assistant coach Klint Kubiak demanded — and continually checked to see if he was onsides, as instructed by head coach David Beaty at the start of the drill, even when Beaty was busy giving instructions to another player. Small detail, but one the coaches surely appreciate.

• Cornerback Matthew Boateng was wearing No. 27 today. Not sure why. I’ll be sure to ask. He moved from No. 1 to No. 33 in the offseason but was wearing the new digits on Monday. Could’ve been as simple as a laundry issue.

• During one drill where the KU quarterbacks worked on rolling out left and hitting receivers near the sideline, back-up quarterback T.J. Millweard, who isn’t really in the race for KU’s QB job, actually caught a pass. It didn’t look like any kind of trick play — I just saw the catch — and it didn’t happen again. Could’ve just been a weird challenge or a dare of some type. Either way, Millweard looked pretty sure-handed. Good to see from the team’s holder. Speaking of QBs, it looked like Montell Cozart ran with the ones and Deondre Ford ran with the twos while we were out there today.

• On the B field, during live team action, juco transfer Will Smith, an offensive lineman, went hog wild after LaQuivionte Gonzales broke a long run for a touchdown and raced untouched through the KU secondary. Maybe Smith is just that type of dude but it sure seems like it’s more likely that that’s a product of the energy of the coaching staff rubbing off on these guys and one guy looking to jump to the A field figuring out how little things like that can make a big difference.

• Earlier in the day we got to talk with linebackers coach Kevin Kane, so it was only natural for me to watch Kane coach a little more closely during practice. The guy’s a stud. Not only is he in complete command of his group at all times — he even proved to be incredibly comfortable in front of the cameras when meeting with the media — but he also is crazy detailed and direct in his coaching. During one tackling drill, the former KU linebacker demonstrated the proper way to step toward the ball carrier when he made his move. Instead of stabbing the ground right in front of the other foot while changing direction, Kane explained that doing so prevented the linebacker from exploding into the tackle and turned the whole thing into an arm tackle because of the poor base. It took one time for him to show it before everyone in line did it correctly the next two times through.

• Tuesday marks the second and final day of two-a-day practices for the Jayhawks, who will go once in the morning and again at 5:45 tomorrow night. In between, we’ll get a chance to meet with O-Line coach Zach Yenser and the offensive linemen.