Up to this point in the season, Amauri Pesek-Hickson hasn’t been heavily involved with the Kansas football team’s offensive game plan. But that could change when the Jayhawks play at Texas this week.
After KU lost No. 2 running back Torry Locklin to a season-ending injury he suffered during KU’s home loss to Kansas State this past week, Pesek-Hickson is in line to spell starter Devin Neal.
A 6-foot, 230-pound redshirt freshman, Pesek-Hickson currently ranks fourth on the team in carries (33) and rushing yards (102). But the big back and former high school standout at Blue Valley North proved late in the 2020 season he could step up when needed.
In a fill-in start versus TCU as a true freshman, Pesek-Hickson ran for 100 yards on 22 carries. He averaged 3.6 yards per carry over the course of the final four games of the year.
An August injury before this season even began impacted Pesek-Hickon’s progress this year, KU offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. Since then, Kotelnicki said the reserve rusher has been “making up reps” to catch up.
“When you miss a preseason, or even a couple of weeks in preseason, or you miss a spring football, you miss a really important part of development in playing football,” Kotelnicki said.
The O.C. said Pesek-Hickson’s role will increase this week, and that the young running back has had a good week of practice leading up to Saturday’s game at Texas (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
Kotelnicki described Pesek-Hickson as an athletic and powerful back. And the main component he’s missing as a rusher right now, the O.C. explained, is the benefit of having a full load of practice repetitions.
“Seeing run plays over and over again, and seeing defensive fronts over and over again,” the coach said. “Those are the things that we try to make up with him.”
Neal, KU’s starting running back the past six games since Velton Gardner left the program, said Pesek-Hickson is excited for the opportunity he has in front of him.
“Amauri’s a big, strong freak athlete,” Neal said. “He’s just going to bring a lot of fire to our offense, as well. So it’s going to be exciting to see how we all compete these next three weeks.”
