Lance Leipold hopes to see another great crowd

The bye week came at a good time for the Jayhawks. Lance Leipold said over the last few weeks they were experiencing the bumps and bruises that come along with the schedule grind with several players.

The extra time off also gave younger players a chance to practice.

“Open weeks are always challenging a little bit on the mental side as you're trying to get healthy, you're trying to give them a break, but you still have things you want to do,” Leipold said. “I was pleased, especially the younger players, players that haven't played a lot are able to give some extra work and looking at them.”

The team returned to the practice field on Sunday night, which is usually not a practice day. With the bye week they got an early start to the week preparing for Oklahoma State.

“We practiced last night and moved around well you could see that,” Leipold said. “They're anxious to get back at it. So, all in all, I thought it was productive. But you'll never know until you kind of see how it plays out here the next month.”

Jalon Daniels has missed the last two games and Leipold said he was practicing. There are other players in the same category such as Cobee Bryant.

“He's practicing and he's doing some things,” Leipold said of Daniels. “He was out there yesterday, and we'll see. That probably goes for Cobee and others.”

The Jayhawks were away from their home stadium for close to a month. They played TCU and went on the road for Oklahoma and Baylor. Then a bye week, and they are looking forward to returning home.

They played in a front a sold out stadium the last three home games and Leipold hoes to see another good crowd for the Oklahoma State game.

“I hope we'll have another great crowd,” he said. “We need a great crowd. I hope the future of this program and as we continue to work to build winning consistently in this program, that it's not undefeated records that get us to fill this place. Because that'd be a lot of non-filled stadiums across college football, and I still hope that people are excited and though the wins of late haven't been there.”

Kansas is one win shy of bowl eligibility and enter the game against Oklahoma State as a field goal underdog.

Two of the team’s three losses were one score games late in the fourth quarter. Leipold hopes the fan base takes notice to the effort and how the fans make a difference.

“The competitive nature of this football team for four quarters is something that I hope our fans are respecting and enjoying and will want to come out and support,” he said.

During the bye week other players got a chance to practice and show their abilities. Leipold usually does not like to single out players.

“When I mention one, I forget somebody,” he said. “And then I've got somebody that's disappointed and I don't want to do that.”

But he did mention two players on offense that caught his attention during last week’s practices.

“I'll give you one name just because I'm in a good mood today,” Leipold said. “A guy like Kobe Baynes who reported late. This is a chance to get Kobe a lot of work and try to get him caught up because he's going to have to help us sometime and so there's one example. Ethan Vasko. Okay, I gave you two.”