Weis on family in New Jersey

Junior Running Backs

On Tuesday, Kansas coach Charlie Weis said he has been pushing running back James Sims to be more of a leader on the field. Sims this year is making his case that he is one of the better running backs in the Big 12.

Next year Sims will be the most experienced player on the offensive side of the ball for Kansas and a likely captain.

"Before, he was just a ball carrier," Weis said. "He would just come in on running plays. But now everyone rallies around you, like the offensive line rallies around you and everyone kind of rallies around you, because you're the workhorse; you're the bell cow."

While the offensive gameplans focuses around Sims ability, running back Taylor Cox is also continuing to stay in the good graces of the coaches. Weis said his work ethic has kept him in the mix.

"Taylor is going to get more and more action as we go forward and we trust him," Weis said. "The offensive line knows that when Taylor's in the game, you better look out, because he's only got one speed, and that's full. That's even in practice, when he's running a play inside, if the offensive lineman is a little bit high, they might get hit in the back by him, because the only speed he runs is full speed."

Weis praises Tuberville

Weis talked about the rebuilding job that Tommy Tuberville has done at Texas Tech. Weis compared himself to Tuberville in the fact that they both were groomed under successful coaches on their way up the ranks.

Tuberville was able to learn from Jimmy Johnson at Miami while Weis studied from Bill Parcelss and Bill Beleihick. Weis said Tuberville had a plan when he got to Tech and stuck with it.

"They were always scoring some points there, but now the defense is ranked in the top 20 in the country," Weis said. "Now, all of a sudden, he's got himself a more complete team than just one-sided one way or the other. And being that he's a defensive guy by trade, I'm sure that brings a smile to his face, that they are playing much more stout on defense."

Weis got a chance to know Tuberville when they along with a group of college coaches traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit with U.S. troops back in 2007. At the time Weis was the coach at Notre Dame and Tuberville at Auburn.

"We ran into probably 15,000 troops in the time we were there and any time somebody was either an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan, he'd hold up the number six (six fingers), because it had been six times in a row that Auburn had beaten Alabama," Weis said. "So somebody says, 'Roll Tide'. And he'd sit there and put up the six right there and it was awesome."

Hurricane Sandy

Weis also commented on the destruction that Sandy left across the east coast. Weis said his family who lives in New Jersey is still without power. Weis said it's been tough watching images of areas where he grew up raveged by the storm.

"I've been following it as much as I possibly can and trying to reach some people and make sure they are okay," Weis said. "Everyone's okay; everyone I know is okay, physically they're okay, but there's a lot of damage and it's going to take a long time to repair all that stuff. A long time."