LAWRENCE, Kan. — It's pretty easy to connect the dots between the health of Jake Sharp and the success of the Kansas running game.
Sharp came out of the chute with 123 yards against Northern Colorado and 104 at Texas-El Paso, averaging 6.1 per carry and scoring three touchdowns. The Jayhawks finished those games with 328 and 255 yards on the ground.
But he suffered an undisclosed leg injury the following week in practice, and the Jayhawks haven't been the same since.
“Our run game was kind of set up for Jake being healthy,'' KU coach Mark Mangino said, “with him being 100 percent and with the kind of mobility he had back in early September.''
Kansas is averaging just 62.6 rushing yards in Big 12 games, ranking ahead of only Baylor. During its current four-game losing skid, that average has dipped to 51.0.
“I'll take the shoulder for the run game and all that,'' Sharp said. “We haven't run the ball well. Certainly a lot of that's on me, and I want to change that this week.''
Sharp can take only so much of the blame, considering the senior played sparingly against Duke and then missed back-to-back games. In the last four games, Sharp has carried the football just 41 times, with a high production of 50 yards at Texas Tech.
So nobody is more excited about getting healthy and providing a boost as Kansas prepares for a visit by Nebraska on Saturday.
“I feel good,'' Sharp said. “I'm definitely at a level where I need to be at this point of the year to do things I need to do on the field.
“I just want to go out there and play the way I think I can play.''
Sharp, who stands just 5-foot-10 and 190, is all about burst and elusiveness. He parlayed it into more than 800 yards rushing each of the past two seasons.
When that burst hasn't been there, he has either posted pedestrian numbers or watched carries go to freshman Toben Opurum.
Mangino said Sharp's injury problems aren't the only factor limiting the running game. The offensive line is looking for a leader to emerge. The receivers need to block better on the perimeter. The Jayhawks could improve fundamentally in run game schemes.
Sharp started the season on a 1,000-yard pace. It's worth wondering what the KU attack would be like had he stayed healthy.
“I don't know,'' Sharp said. “I'm not a fortune teller. It is what it is.
“Like I said, we need to play better, definitely myself included, if we're going to win football games in this conference. And that's understood. That's something that has to happen.''
Contact the writer:
444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com
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