August 20, 2007

Big fish from a small pond
That's what country boy Sharp hopes to be at running back for the Jayhawks.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Every once in a while, Jake Sharp straps on his big ol' belt buckle, steps into a pair of cowboy boots and takes a stroll through town.

It's gestures like these that make Sharp feel at home, helping him forget momentarily that he lives in the urban confines of Lawrence instead of the wide-open country fields of Salina, Kan.

When Sharp, a sophomore Kansas running back, talks about his hometown, you can see the frontier spreading out in front of him. His eyes light up, and a toothy grin flashes across his freckled face.

"My grandparents lived across the dirt road from me, and I knew all my neighbors," Sharp says. "I had endless acres to roam. I'm a loner. I like to be alone. I like to be off in the middle of a pasture fishing. That's where my happiest moments are."

Happy moments have come on the football field for Sharp, too. Playing with his best childhood friends, he won a state championship for Salina Central in 2005 and set a state record with 57 rushing touchdowns that season.

Entering his sophomore year at Kansas, there's a new record that deserves Sharp's attention -- and it's not his. Jon Cornish set a KU single-season rushing record as a senior last season with 1,457 yards. Sharp, senior fullback Brandon McAnderson, sophomore Angus Quigley and freshman Carmon Boyd-Anderson are left to battle for Cornish's carries.

This much is clear: Sharp wants to be the man for the Jayhawks this fall. But really, he'd much rather spend time discussing matters of rod and reel, things like the biggest fish he's ever caught.

"It was probably a bass ranging from 15 to 20 pounds," Sharp says.

Did he mount it?

"No mounting," Sharp says. "If you mount it, you really can't expand on the story because it's there."

Hmmm. Sharp seems to be hinting at something. So you decide to ask Rick Sharp, Jake's father and fishing partner, about the size of his son's prize catch.

"It would not have been too big," Rick says. "A 3-to-4-pound bass, maybe. That's probably stretching it on the 4-pound size."

***

Country boys are born storytellers. With ease, they can turn a rabbit into a wolf or a dinner knife into a machete. Jake Sharp is different because, in many ways, he's living his own tall tale.

In fact, if Sharp were mounted, he'd probably show a closer resemblance to the 3-to-4-pound fish than the big, bad bass he imagines in his head. Yes, if Sharp were mounted, he'd be pigeonholed as a 5-foot-10, 190-pound kid who couldn't withstand the pounding of 20-plus carries a game in the Big 12. He'd be called a "change-of-tempo back" or a "game-breaker."

It's no wonder that Sharp, who has always been smaller than other running backs, is not a fan of mounting.

"Give him the ball and see him run," says Marvin Diener, Sharp's coach at Salina Central and now coach at Gardner Edgerton. "The kid is as physically fit as any athlete I've ever been around. I will say this: If someone thinks he can't carry more than 15 times, hand it to him the 16th time and see if he doesn't try. I think it's baloney."

Forgive Diener if he comes off a bit frustrated. He's known Sharp since Jake was a little boy, riding four-wheelers, shooting BB guns and darting through defenses. No matter what Sharp participated in, he wanted to be the best.

"Jake's just always been a focused kid no matter what he's doing," says Jackie Sharp, his mother. "When he decided he wanted to get a black belt in tae kwon do, he was the youngest kid his school has ever taken. When he wants something, nobody has to push him."

Sharp got his black belt, and before long he was a starting running back for Salina Central, accomplishing a goal he'd set as a child. Sharp didn't get there only because of his talent. In the winters, Sharp outworked everyone, trading in fun nights with his friends for time with a personal trainer at a local gym. In the spring, Sharp improved his speed by excelling in track and field.

"There was no question that Jake had ability, but he's pushed it to the limit," says David Diener, Jake's best friend and high school teammate.

"There'd be times I'd call him and say what are you doing tonight, and he'd say, 'I'm going to the gym for a while.' I thought it was a little ridiculous how much he trained, but that's what he wanted to do."

It paid off. Sharp was pretty much unstoppable his senior year. He ran for more than 300 yards numerous times, and each time, he'd take the offensive line out for dinner. It started to get expensive. Word of Sharp's talent certainly made its way around the state. One of the first things Kansas State coach Ron Prince did after getting the job was visit Sharp, the state's top recruit.

"I don't think he'd been on the job a day," Rick Sharp says.

But Kansas always felt right for Sharp. He committed to the Jayhawks in December 2005, fresh off a state championship run. Sharp had become one of the biggest names in Salina, but he didn't really enjoy the attention all that much.

When senior prom came around, Sharp made it clear that he had no interest in attending. Dances and getting all dressed up, that wasn't Jake.

"He was not discreet about not showing up," David Diener says. "He kind of made it public that senior prom just wasn't for him."

So on prom night, when his name was called for several senior awards, Sharp was at the gym, preparing for the rest of his life.

***

The one thing Sharp couldn't prepare for was the homesickness he would feel during his first semester on campus, living in Jayhawker Towers.

"I'm a country kid," Sharp says. "You put a country kid up in a little square dorm room for a couple of months, and it's hard on him. But you get over it."

Sharp also realized very quickly that all of his accomplishments and the name he'd made for himself in high school meant nothing at Kansas.

"As soon as you step onto a college campus, anything you did in high school is basically erased," Sharp says. "You have to come in and establish yourself at the collegiate level before people say, 'Wow, he's good.' "

Sharp says he doesn't feel any pressure to live up to his high school career, but his old coach, Marvin Diener, has a different take on it.

"I guarantee you," Diener says, "those people in the stands know who Jake is and are excited to watch him do on the Big 12 field what he did on the biggest stage high school football has to offer in the state of Kansas."

Sharp showed potential during his freshman year. Backing up Cornish, he ran 21 times for 129 yards for an average of 6.1 yards per carry. More important, Sharp became comfortable with his teammates, and they got used to his quirks.

Told that Sharp described himself as a loner, McAnderson couldn't resist taking a jab at his backfield mate.

"You could say a loner, but I say a weirdo," McAnderson said, laughing. "No, Jake's a good guy. He's just different. I always mess with him about that."

Sharp understands that he's different, and he's not afraid to show it. David Diener has been with Sharp when he breaks out the belt buckle and boots in Lawrence.

"He'll run around that town just like he was out in the country," Diener says. "It might make people look at him funny, but he isn't too worried about that. Jake is who he is, and if you don't accept it, it doesn't hurt his feelings at all."

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)