Who is the Greatest Kansas Football Player of All-Time?

I know, I know - I started this over a year ago. It got started too late in the summer, and then couldn’t get it wrapped up before football started, then basketball was upon us, and, well, here we are.

But we finally made it.

And we’re down to the Final Four.

Instead of playing them off to a championship showdown, let’s make them #EarnIt against each other. In the poll below, there are four choices. Please vote ONCE for your selection (honor system here).

Here are your finalists:

The Greatest KU Quarterback of All-Time: Todd Reesing.

As of 8 PM on 5/14/17, Todd Reesing advanced past John Hadl by a vote of 37-36. Reesing owns basically every passing record at Kansas, both in a career and in most cases in a single season: attempts, completions, yards, TDs, even completion percentage (which is incredible considering how many more passes Reesing attempted in his career than any other player in Kansas history, 527 more than Frank Seurer).

The Greatest KU Wide Receiver of All-Time: Dezmon Briscoe.

Briscoe advanced past Kerry Meier by a 32-19 vote. Over his three-year career at KU, Briscoe took over the top spot in most of the receiving categories in the school record books, including receiving yards and receiving TDs. In addition, he ranks #10 all-time in the Big 12 in both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

The Greatest KU Running Back of All-Time: Gale Sayers.

Sayers advanced past John Riggins by a 42-5 vote. He was named first team All-Big 8 in each of his three college seasons, and first team All-American in his final two seasons. All told at Kansas, he carried the ball 412 times for 2675 yards, averaging 6.5 yards per carry. Sayers is still the highest-ever Jayhawk taken in the NFL draft, being picked 4th overall in the 1965 by the Chicago Bears. In just seven NFL seasons, Sayers was impressive enough to be named to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1977, the youngest inductee in the Hall’s history. In addition, the Bears retired his #40 jersey in 1994. He is the only Jayhawk to be inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Greatest KU D/ST/OL player of All-Time: Otto Schnellbacher.

Schnellbacher raced past Ray Evans to claim this Final Four berth by a 90-30 vote (where’s Kris Kobach when you need him). Not that Otto was a bad choice - at this point, there’s no such thing as bad vote. He played both offense (WR) and defense (CB), plus, he was first team All-Conference four times in basketball for the Jayhawks.

He laced it up on the gridiron for KU from 1942-43 and 1946-48. He was named first team All-Conference in 1943, 1946, and 1947. He was a co-captain on the 1947 Orange Bowl squad, the same year he (alongside Ray Evans) became KU’s first ever first team All-Americans in football. In the “three yards and a cloud of dust” era, Otto was credited with 58 receptions and 1069 yards in his KU career, school records that stood for 22 years. He was an interception machine in his NFL career, averaging nearly an interception per game, while at the same time playing professional basketball in the NBA.

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Who was the greatest Jayhawk? Define it however you want. Register your vote in the poll below. Feel free to share your vote and discuss in the comments. All of the matchups can be found here.

The poll closes at 8 PM CDT on 5/21/17.