While this is a Kansas basketball blog, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this article on the KU football seniors as they conclude their careers on Nov. 28 at Memorial Stadium against in-state rival K-State. The four-year seniors have gone just 7-40 during their careers and won just two Big 12 games. However, their heart has always prevailed while undergoing extreme adversity and have laid the foundation for future success in KU football under coach David Beaty and his energetic staff.
Here is my tribute to the 2015 KU senior class.
They came from different parts of the country with different backgrounds and different beliefs.
But as the 21 Kansas seniors wrap up their careers at Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m. against rival K-State in the Sunflower Showdown, these Jayhawks have been united through adversity and endless heartbreak while becoming warriors who never quit through the hard times and always held their heads high with dignity and hope.
The seniors, who will be honored before the game, will run onto Kivisto Field one last time. And when the game is over, they’ll hurry back to the locker room one final time.
For first-year KU coach David Beaty, the seniors are all champions in his book with all heart.
“They have meant the world to us, and they really have,” Beaty said Tuesday. “And they have done everything we've asked them to do. The first thing we asked them to do was just to give us everything they got. In return, we made sure that they understood that they matter, that they cared.
“Our guys have experienced a couple of coaching changes, particularly these seniors. When we came in here, we made the commitment to these guys to make them understand that they deserve to have the absolute best experience that they possibly could have. And if they would trust us and buy into it, that they would have more fun than they've had playing football. And that the byproduct would be success as you walk down the stage, walk off the stage as a graduate, and we'll never let you be forgotten.
“We made that commitment to those guys, and, man, they have been off the chart good,” Beaty continued. “They have been phenomenal and they have been really good with helping us set our culture with this young team. Without them, we would not be where we are right now. I know to some that doesn't look like it's where some people would absolutely want it. It's not necessarily where I would want it either from a results standpoint.
“But I'll tell you this: Those guys have done so much to help us move this program forward from where it was when we first got here. I just can't take my hat off to them more than I do. They've been phenomenal. Yesterday we go out to practice and those boys are bringing energy and it's fun to have those guys around.
“I wish I had them all for four more years, every one of them.”
For the four-year seniors, they’ve gone just 7-40 and won just two Big 12 games. While there’s been improvement and more energy under this new coaching staff, the Jayhawks haven’t won a game in 11 tries.
This could all change Saturday at Memorial Stadium against their bitter rival.
“I feel like going out with this win would wash away everything,” senior receiver Tre’ Parmalee said.
Some like Parmalee have been at Mount Oread for four years. Others like defensive end Ben Goodman have been here five. Then there’s gritty and gutty running back Taylor Cox who’s persevered through six seasons at Kansas.
Cox knows his college career will end Saturday, and he’s hoping for a huge day for the Jayhawks.
“I’m approaching this week as the biggest game of my life,” he said, “and I think it’s going to be a good one.”
On Tuesday, Cox reflected about how he wants his fellow seniors to be remembered.
“As guys that never gave up on his program, that loved KU and would do whatever it takes for this program to be successful in the future,” he said. “I think it’s our job to kind of lay the foundation of hard hard work and dedication and instill it in these young guys.”
The seniors, indeed, never gave up. Offensive coordinator Rob Likens can attest to that when asked about the group’s legacy.
“They did not let go of the rope,” Likens said. “We’ve been preaching that ever since we started getting that skid of we hadn’t won a game. You didn’t really kind of see it until midway through the season. ‘OK, I can see how the season is going to go.’ We challenged them at that point. ‘OK guys, you’re not going to go to a bowl, what’s going to be your deal? Are you going to be guys that quit or do you want to be known for a team that did not let go?’ They all in unison stood up and said we want to be known as a team that doesn’t let go of the rope.”
The seniors stood up to the challenge and almost upset Texas Tech on Oct. 17 in Lawrence. They stood up to the challenge again and were a scoring drive away from shocking No. 15 TCU on the road Nov. 14. While they faltered both times, they believed in their coaches, they believed in their teammates, they believed in their dreams.
Defensive coordinator Clint Bowen, who served as interim head coach last season, said the seniors have been quite special through overcoming adversity.
“They’ve been great,” Bowen said. “They’ve been through a lot of things, and not just through this season. You take what those young men have been able to endure in terms of where the program’s been and what the kids have gone through, for those guys to stick with it, to never quit, never give up, never lose their focus of things. Their college careers have been different than the norm and they fought through it the whole time. To this day, they continue to rally the young kids and let them know what it means to build a foundation for the program and they’re all 100 percent in. It’s really pretty remarkable what they’ve been able to accomplish inside of the program.”
Bowen wants these seniors to go out in style with a defining win Saturday.
“You take guys who went through what they went through, in terms of losses, especially losses to Kansas State and how they have gone. I think it would send them out with a great feeling, something they could always look back on. I think it would mean a lot to them,” Bowen said.
It would certainly mean a great deal to a player like Cox, who’s battled through an injury-plagued career just to return for his sixth year because he loved the program so much.
He’s finally been healthy this season, and he can’t wait to win KU’s first game this season and the first victory over KSU since 2008.
“It would be tremendous, man,” Cox said with a smile. “I feel like we put in so much work, and obviously we haven’t come out with the results we wanted. No matter what the record is, you always want to beat K-State. Taking no credit away from them, they’re a hard-nosed team, they always fight to the end, well-coached, but we want to beat them, so it would be a tremendous deal, especially for our seniors if we can get this win. I think we’ll be able to.
“It means a lot,” he added. “It’s the Governor’s Cup. It’s a battle for the (state) of Kansas, it means so much to the community and we just want to go out and perform for the city of Lawrence.”
Cox has been dreaming of entering the locker room after the game and being handed the Governor’s Cup. For Cox, that would be a priceless and magical feeling.
“I’d been envisioning that ever since coach Beaty was talking about it yesterday,” he said. “It would be a major deal for our program to have it for a full year, to have bragging rights, to be the winner and champion of Kansas.”
You can bet Cox and the other 20 seniors will leave it all on the field Saturday. No regrets, just what they hope are wonderful memories for a group united forever as loyal Jayhawks.
