Crist turns last weekend’s flaws into positive practice points
- Sep. 4, 2012
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- udkne.ws/RDvecI
After studying footage from Saturday’s 31-17 win over South Dakota State, coach Charlie Weis zeroed in on what senior quarterback and captain Dayne Crist must improve on.
Weis wants to see progress in Crist. During Crist’s debut as a Jayhawk, Crist completed only 47 percent of his passes and threw one interception against the Jackrabbits. Weis has high expectations for the Notre Dame transfer and wants to make sure he keeps his head high after Saturday’s game.
“You only get 12 of these regular season games, and the first one was a win,” Weis said. “You’re not supposed to feel bad after a win. You’re supposed to feel good after you win. You deal with the problems in the game, but don’t feel bad after a win.”
Weis graded his players after watching film of the previous game and said that no player gets critiqued harder than the quarterback of the team.
“His parents would not have been happy if he brought that grade home,” Weis said of Crist. “We grade relatively difficult. We grade hard.”
Crist gladly welcomes the criticism and is open with his coaches and teammates on becoming a stronger quarterback and a more reliable leader.
Rather than thinking about what he did well, he studied his flaws and wants to turn them into positive production next time he takes the field.
“I’m just as hard on myself,” he said. “I’ve got to practice better. I have a better understanding of how the game went. But at the end of the day, I know that I can play much better than how I did on Saturday, and I am excited for the opportunity to get better this week in practice and go out and have a better shot on Saturday.”
Crist overthrew two passes early in Saturday’s win over South Dakota State. His idea of a better game is to connect with his receivers and not miss any opportunities to score when Kansas is within distance to strike a touchdown.
As a captain of the team, Crist keeps a strong chemistry with his receivers in and out of the facility as much as possible.
Not only does everyone on the team want to improve for their own personal benefit, but they also want to make the players around them better to help the team be more successful.
“I think the communication between they and I are great,” Crist said. “We all have the same goal, and that’s getting better and playing more efficient, and that’s what we are going to aim to do all week.”
Crist wants to make practice count this week before returning to Memorial Stadium against Rice University this Saturday. He made it clear that the team can evolve their offensive output, even after a win.
Crist would like to improve the dynamic with his receivers by limiting mental errors and taking better care of the football.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to be more efficient,” he said. “I think that starts in practice, so we’ve got to have a great sense of urgency today in practice, tomorrow and all week, and practice efficiency as well.”
— Edited by Sarah McCabe
