By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent

Turner Gill is a person who lives by the "glass is half full" philosophy. Despite a disappointing 3-9 record in 2010 and the prediction of a last-place finish in 2011, Gill sees reasons to be optimistic.

"I'm a little bit more at ease as I go into this football season here, because I do know what we need to do and how we need to go about doing it," he said. "Overall I thought our players did respond to the adversity in a good way. I think even with the last four ball games, even though we didn't win those games, I thought there was tremendous improvement as a football team."

Jordan Webb, a third-year sophomore, will be the Jayhawks' quarterback. He started seven games last season, completing 56.5 percent of his passes for 1,195 yards and seven touchdowns with eight interceptions. He out dueled senior Quinn Mecham for the starting job.

"I feel like I'm getting better every day," Webb told the Kansas City Star. "That's one thing I wanted to do is be consistent and try and grow as a leader. I feel like I've really been doing it."

Sophomore James Sims, who led the team in rushing last season, figures to get plenty of help. Freshmen Darrian Miller and Tony Pierson, redshirt freshman Brandon Bourbon along with Ryan Burton and Josh Smith all are in the mix for playing time in the backfield.

"We have a good, solid core of running backs that are going to help our football team this year," Gill said. "You need quite a few of those guys because they're going to get banged up during the course of the season. But I feel like we have quite a few guys that, if they're called on, they can produce."

Daymond Patterson, Kale Pick (who was the starting quarterback in the 2010 season opener) and D.J. Beshears figure to be the top receivers.

The defense must replace four of its top five tacklers. Leading tackler Steven Johnson, a senior linebacker, returns and leads a unit that should be the strength of the defense.

The secondary is solid and has five players who have started at least five games. But if the front seven can't stop opposing run games or pressure the quarterback, the secondary will be under too much pressure.

At least 60 players on the KU roster are sophomores or freshmen. Gill bit the bullet last season and redshirted 15 freshmen. Nearly 10 of this year's incoming freshmen class could see playing time. The Jayhawks' roster has more speed, depth and competiton.

"In some positions last year we just didn't have competition," Gill said. "I really feel good about our work ethic. When you get a work ethic and you get a little bit faster, particularly in this league, then it's going to get you a better opportunity to be successful and get things going in the right way."

Kansas Schedule

Sept. 3	McNeese State
Sept. 10	Northern Illinois
Sept. 17	at Georgia Tech
Oct. 1	Texas Tech*
Oct. 8	at Oklahoma State*
Oct. 15	Oklahoma*
Oct. 22	Kansas State*
Oct. 29	at Texas*
Nov. 5	at Iowa State*
Nov. 12	Baylor*
Nov. 19	at Texas A&M*
Nov. 26	Missouri* (at Kansas City)

* - Conference game.

Coach: Turner Gill, second season at Kansas.
2010: 3-9 overall, 1-8 in Big 12 North
Starters returning: 7 on offense, 8 on defense.
Key returnees: Quarterback Jordan Webb, Wide receiver Daymond Patterson, Running back James Sims, Tight end Tim Biere, Offensive tackle Jeff Spikes, Center Jeremiah Hatch, Defensive end Toben Opurum, Linebacker Huldon Tharp, Linebacker Steven Johnson.

Skywriters Tour History
In a tradition that harkens back to a previous era in college football, sportswriters and broadcasters would gather in a central location and go on an annual conference-wide tour, traveling from campus-to-campus to cover preseason practices. The tour provided fans with unprecedented daily coverage from each school by moving the group between campuses by charter bus or air service and thus was dubbed the Skywriters Tour.