By:Josh Carson
Big 12 Campus Correspondent
What started as a class to fill an elective need for Kansas tight end Jimmay Mundine quickly turned into an addiction and a new way to fill his competitive spirit during the football offseason.
“I started golfing about three years ago,” Mundine said. “I took a golf class as an elective. The class was once a week, so it gave me a lot of free time.”
His plan backfired and he started spending his free time practicing his golf swing.
“I became addicted,” Mundine said. “I bought some used clubs and just started golfing as much I could.”
Mundine says he is a huge competitor and that is why he started taking golf so seriously. After being challenged by a few friends and acquaintances, he really took his game to the next level.
“I took another golf class a year later and started really playing,” Mundine said. “One of my friends’ dads told me he could beat me at golf and said it would be 20 years before I beat him. I told him ‘No, it isn’t going to be that long.’ I started playing all the time and I started getting better. I was doing everything to improve my game; I was watching YouTube videos of swings. Everything was about golf for a while.”
Mundine spent his free time in the summer playing at a few of the courses in Lawrence as well as a lot of time in KU’s Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center because it has a golf simulator and it was free to get in.
The tight end admits he still isn’t great at golf, but has improved dramatically since the first time he hit the links.
“The best score I’ve ever shot was an 81, which is still pretty bad, but I was pumped when I shot it,” Mundine said laughing. “My first time I ever played I think I shot a 113. It was horrible, so to see that progression so quickly was really exciting.”
He hasn’t played golf since the football season started in August, but was able to go home to Denison, Texas, in July, before fall camp and play a few rounds with his friends.
“I told myself I wasn’t going to get beat by my friends,” he recalled. “That was a big motivator for me. After I played them and won, I finally got a few chances to play my friend’s dad and I beat him. We have played since then and he has beat me, but I got him once.”
Golf has not only become something he strives to be good at, but it has put things into perspective on the gridiron for Mundine as well.
“God blessed me with the talent to play football,” Mundine said. “Running and catching a football is second nature to me, but when I step up for a tee shot, it isn’t second nature. I really have to think about what I’m doing. With golf, I have to think about where I want to hit the ball, how hard to swing, how to position myself; there are a lot of things I have to think about while golfing that I don’t have to think about with football.
“When I think about that difference, I realize I overlook a lot of the small things in football that are important like looking a pass in or running a good route. I have tried to focus more on those things since I started golfing. Picking up golf has taught me to not overlook the small things with football.”
That attention to detail and emphasis on the small things has paid off for Mundine, as he was named the John Mackey Tight End of the Week (September 24), and since has been named to the John Mackey Midseason Watch List and an All-America candidate.
Mundine admits that he never would have expected to be in this position if you would have asked him six years ago. He says he has been humbled by the recognition and to be mentioned amongst the other great tight ends across the nation is almost hard to believe.
“I read the article about me being a candidate for the John Mackey Award and it didn’t really hit me at first,” he said. “I had to read it a second time. I was like ‘Man, that is pretty crazy.’ I think about myself as a small town kid; to hear that I’m in the top 10 in the nation in receiving yards by a tight end and leading the Big 12, it means a lot to me.”
It doesn’t only mean a lot to him, though. That small town is proud of him as well.
“It is pretty cool that I get so much love from back home,” Mundine said. “People are not used to having an athlete from Denison that is getting national attention like that. I was talking to my family over our bye weekend about how I can say I am leading the Big 12 as a tight end in receiving right now. It’s a big statement, but it’s a true statement.”
As honored as he is to be a candidate for the John Mackey Award, Mundine isn’t one to slow down.
“There are still a lot of games to be played and a lot more good or bad to be made about myself,” he said. “I’m so thankful for being on the good side of things and having things going my way right now.”
Whether he wins the award or not, there is no doubt Mundine is a great competitor, which is something he hopes others remember him as, long after his time at KU as a player is over.
“I hope people remember that I was competitive and always wanted to win, regardless of the situation,” Mundine said. “I hope they remember me as a good football player and most importantly, I hope they can respect that I worked hard.”
Mundine hopes his playing days continue after he leaves Kansas, but when the time comes that he has to hang up the cleats, he hopes to be able to stay involved with the game of football on some level. He said he would love to be an offensive coordinator or even a head coach of a college team one day. Well that, and play on the PGA tour, of course.