Following a team vote, Kansas football head coach Charlie Weis announced here today that seniors Dayne Crist, Tanner Hawkinson and Toben Opurum had been appointed permanent team captains for the 2012 season. Crist and Hawkinson earned the honor for the first time in their Kansas careers, while Opurum served as a team captain during the 2011 campaign.
The three captains are great representatives for this team going forward and great examples of what Charlie Weis wants to turn this program into. I think having Dayne Crist named as a captain is a good sign in terms of his integration into the program and shows his ability as a leader considering he has been able to step in as a transfer and assume that role.
With Opurum and Hawkinson Kansas has two players that entered into the program shortly after the Orange Bowl season and signed with Mark Mangino. Since that time things probably haven't gone as planned but both players have consistently done what has been asked of them and that has included multiple position changes.
Weis mentioned that he named the captains now as opposed to following fall camp because he wants team leadership that will hold this group accountable during the rest of spring and throughout the summer. Opurum addresses that directly and talks about holding himself and the team to a higher standard and I think that is exactly the type of thing this program needs right now.