August 8, 2007

Meier's healthy competition
Injuries and illness have derailed the Jayhawks' once-promising starter's career and opened the door for sophomore Todd Reesing to take away his job.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Kerry Meier knew the question was coming. It was only a matter of when.

Sure enough, about five minutes had passed at Kansas football media day before a reporter slapped a microphone in front of Meier and chirped, "You feelin' healthy?"

More and more, after missing four games last season with an injured shoulder and redshirting his first year because of a heart condition, Meier knows there are doubts about his durability. The whispers are out there. Yeah, he won't make it to October.

Meier, much like older brother Dylan at Kansas State, looked to be a surefire three-year starter at quarterback when he signed with Kansas in 2005. Also like Dylan, he can't seem to stay on the field.

"I'm just ready to get out and stay healthy for a whole season and play a lot of games this year," said Meier, a sophomore. "It really was kind of a setback, but it's all part of football. It's a physical sport, but I really enjoy it, and I hope that I stay healthy this season."

Only, it's not that simple this time around. Because of Meier's injury and the Jayhawks' overall ineffectiveness at the position last season, Kansas lifted the redshirt off then-freshman Todd Reesing in the ninth game of the season. Reesing performed well in leading KU to a win over Colorado, and now Reesing is out for Meier's job.

Kansas coach Mark Mangino is calling the race a dead heat, but for the first time, he made a telling statement about the competition.

"I'll put it like this: From spring to two-a-days, Reesing has advanced his overall play a little bit better than Meier has," Mangino said. "But for Kerry, it's just a matter of throwing the ball confidently."

Meier was supposed to contend for the starting job as a true freshman, but his sudden heart condition took away two crucial weeks in August. Then, of course, there was last year. He won the job and looked to have a strong handle on it before hurting his shoulder during a loss at Toledo. Meier played in five games after that, but he was never himself.

"I've seen the kid throw 10,000 passes," said Merle Clark, Meier's coach at Pittsburg (Kan.) High, "and after the Toledo game, he couldn't zip the ball."

Clark has watched the Meier boys play football for a long time. He's not surprised that Dylan and now Kerry have struggled with injuries at the college level. Heck, nary a season went by down in Pittsburg when a Meier boy didn't find himself exiled to the sidelines for at least a couple of games.

Take Dylan. He sustained a torn labrum in the state championship game his junior year and had a long recovery before leading Pittsburg back there his senior year. At Kansas State, Dylan won the starting job as a sophomore in 2004 but played only six games. He missed his junior year recovering from shoulder surgery. Last year, his senior year, he lost the job at midseason to highly touted freshman Josh Freeman.

But if you factor in Kerry's high-school career, he might be even more injury-prone than Dylan. He missed his entire sophomore year at Pittsburg with a torn labrum in his hip. He missed games the next year after -- brace yourself -- injuring his leg while holding for a kick. And his senior year, he had turf toe.

So, back to that original question: "You feelin' healthy?" It would have shocked no one if Meier responded that he injured the pinky on his throwing hand making a peanut butter sandwich and that he'd probably miss the opener against Central Michigan.

Despite the Meiers' struggles to stay healthy, Clark says he would hesitate to label them as injury-prone. He prefers another label.

"They're warriors," Clark said. "They have had some injuries, but they play the game hard. They also played special teams. Kerry was very good cornerback. Dylan was a good linebacker. When you're physical and throwing your body around, injuries are part of the deal."

For the first 20 years of his life, Kerry gladly followed in Dylan's footsteps. He played the quarterback position with the same recklessness and found himself on the same path, headed to a Big 12 school with big expectations.

But now, with three years of eligibility remaining, is it time for Kerry to play the game smarter, to glide out of bounds instead of taking on a linebacker for that extra yard?

"Hey, you gotta look at Kerry -- he's a big kid," KU senior tight end Derek Fine said. "He's going to bring what he's got to the table. As far as him being injury-prone, the kid is tough as nails. That's kind of a bad thing for him sometimes, trying to do too much."

Reesing, a sophomore from Austin, Texas, says he has never missed a game because of injury. It would certainly seem that, if Mangino performed a risk analysis of his dueling signal callers, Reesing would be the guy who's built to last.

But Meier isn't worried about that. He says he's healthy, and now he wants to show he can stay that way for a full season.

"I'm the man, and I'm going to be the man until they tell me otherwise," Meier said. "In my mind, that's the way you gotta look at it."

To reach J. Brady McCollough, Kansas reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4363 or send e-mail to jmccollough@kcstar.com

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)