crunchfx

KU football to kick off fall sports with away exhibition

By P. Marco
August 3, 2024

KU football to kick off fall sports with away exhibition

Angilo Allen/Kansas Athletics

Kansas head coach Nate Lie during the spring game against Washburn in Lawrence on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

The year unofficially begins Sunday in Kansas sports, which may be a little early for which team the year will begin with.

A week after bringing all of his players back to campus for the first time (including 11 freshmen and three more transfers who will join Lawrence), first-year KU football coach Nate Lie will take them to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for an exhibition game against the host Razorbacks at 11 a.m. Sunday.

“The preseason games are the earliest we’ve ever played,” said Lie, who arrived at KU in December after seven seasons as head coach at Xavier.

“The positive side is we’re able to really fire players early,” he told the Journal-World in a recent interview. “If there are lessons to be learned and there are growing pains, it gives us more time to fix that on the back end.”

The results of the exhibition are not expected to be released, and Lie said it could include some casework, shootaround drills and the like as both teams try to gradually build toward the 2024 season. Arkansas is coming off an NCAA Tournament run, but it’s a fresh start for KU after struggling in the Big 12 last season, which saw the retirement of longtime coach Mark Francis and the subsequent installation of a new roster and half-staff under Lie this offseason.

The team blends old and new with three captains: redshirt senior midfielder Avery Smith, graduate student and senior points leader Hallie Klanke (four goals and five assists in 2023) and Ohio State transfer defender Brooke Otto, who arrived in Lawrence in the spring and made an immediate impression.

Despite some offseason losses, the team returns several key starters who bridge the gap to the new era, including defender Mackenzie Boeve, midfielder Caroline Castans, and forward Lexi Watts. Other returning contributors who have played for extended periods include midfielders Raena Childers and Mackenzie Hammontree, and defenders Emily Minard and Olivia Page. The roster is relatively young overall, with a handful of returning seniors, along with a handful of freshmen and some unusually experienced sophomores after players like Castans and Page played in their first season at Lawrence.

As Lie looks to examine the revamped roster, he said the team’s goal going into the exhibition should be “to try to implement whatever we added in terms of the game plan to the greatest extent possible, show a competitive spirit and then have that growth mindset, to learn the lessons we need to learn, no matter what happens in the game.”

The contest will be especially impactful because, unlike Arkansas, which will play two more scrimmages before the season starts, KU only has one scrimmage in Fayetteville before its first real game at South Dakota State in 11 days.

Angilo Allen/Kansas Athletics

Kansas defensive back Mackenzie Boeve during the spring game against Washburn on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Lawrence.

Angilo Allen/Kansas Athletics

Kansas midfielder Raena Childers during the spring game against Washburn on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Lawrence.