LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Kansas quarterback Michael Cummings might have played his final snap in college.
"I don't think we're going to be able to get that sixth year" of eligibility, coach David Beaty said Tuesday. "We don't know for sure, but it's not looking good right now."
Cummings has seen it all. He's played under four head coaches. His true freshman season was in 2011, Turner Gill's second and final season at Kansas. Cummings redshirted that season, as quarterback Jordan Webb started every game.
The following year, he took over halfway through the season for Dayne Crist. Then it was back to the bench until Charlie Weis was fired. When Beaty came to town, Cummings tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the spring game after being hit by Kansas safety Michael Glatczak.
Beaty, at the time, called the injury a "complete freak accident." Cummings underwent surgery in June.
"You just feel for the kid," offensive coordinator Rob Likens said. "He's been through coaching changes, he's been through multiple injuries. He's been beat out, then brought back in, started, benched, brought back in. He's been through everything you can go through as a starting quarterback and he's never flinched."
Even though Cummings is out for the season and most likely won't suit up in a Kansas uniform again, he still has a major role with the team.
"He's very actively involved," Beaty said. "He's at every meeting. He's at every practice. He communicates directly with some of our players on game day. We trust him almost as if he's a member of our coaching staff. That's what type of a mature kid he is."
Cummings graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He is finishing up a bachelor's degree in communications and starting work on a master's degree in business administration.
But he still finds time to be around the football team.
"It's almost like he's not hurt," Beaty said. "He's that much a part of our team. He travels with us. He does everything with us. He's in every quarterback meeting. ... I just kind of felt bad for him that he didn't get his opportunity this year. Man, it just broke my heart. But man, just watching how he's handled himself has been really kind of inspiring, for a young man to be able to be that mature."
