If you haven’t already, you’re soon going to start hearing more and more about freshman running back Kory Amachree.
So, let’s get one thing straight up front that will serve you well in your upcoming water cooler conversations and KU football talk with friends.
It’s pronounced Uh-mock-ree.
It may not look that challenging, when you pair the visualization of the word with the sounds it creates. But you might not believe how many different ways Amachree has heard his surname pronounced over the years.
“Bro, I’ve heard it wrong more times than you can even count,” Amachree told R1S1 Sports through a bout of deep laughter following Thursday’s spring practice. “It’s been happening since a real young age, so I don’t even worry about it.”
That’s not to say he doesn’t recognize it or hear it when it happens.
Amachree said some of the most popular mispronunciations of his name include “uh-motch-aree,” “Am-ah-cree,” “Am-uh-tree,” “Arm-tree.”
That last one always got him the most.
“You would hear the craziest stuff, and I’d look at ‘em like, ‘Bro, how would you even get that,’” he said, laughing.
A physically gifted freshman from Haslett, Michigan, a suburb of East Lansing, Amachree enrolled early to get to KU in time for spring football and has been dedicated to learning as much as he can with the extra time that isn’t always there for every freshman.
That includes time in the playbook, talking to teammates and coaches, watching as much film as possible and going as hard as possible with every rep during practice.
“He shows all the abilities to help us as a true freshman,” KU coach Lance Leipold said of the 6-foot, 203-pound tailback from Haslett High School.
Running backs coach Jonathan Wallace agreed with Leipold and said that Amachree’s retention of the playbook and KU’s offensive scheme, along with the countless coaching points he’s heard since arriving, have helped him stand out early.
But it’s not just his coaches who have noticed.
Transfer Yasin Willis, a 6-1, 225-pound bruiser from Syracuse, also has been impressed by how advanced his younger teammate has been and seemed since the start of spring practices. Even in the weight room, Willis said Amachree has drifted over to the upperclassman’s station to see how much weight he was pushing so he could try to match it.
“That kid’s special,” Willis told reporters on Thursday. “He’s a downhill runner, he’s explosive, and he’s a strong kid, as well. “I like that kid, man. Kory’s gonna be real nice. By next year, that boy’s gonna be cold.”
Wallace said Amachree has shown already that he will take advantage of every teaching and learning tool available to him at Kansas. That includes but is not limited to, sticking to his coaches like glue to hear and learn as much from them as he possibly can.
Leipold loves that approach from any player. And it has been a big part of the reason Amachree’s name has come up so often this spring.
“He’s in Jonathan Wallace’s office all the time, asking questions,” Leipold said earlier this week. “He’s got a great work ethic, a great skill set (and a real) understanding of what the offense is about, learning pace and tempo of certain plays. I’m really excited about what Kory is going to give this program, not only this fall but in his career.”
Whether that means immediate snaps this fall and a big role as a freshman or the more traditional path that rookies take, Amachree will be ready for any and all of it.
And he hopes that when they see his name on the back of that No. 2 KU jersey, people soon will be able to pronounce it without much thought.
At the very least, he hopes that KU’s Big 12 foes won’t do him dirty like many of his high school rivals did throughout his days in Michigan.
“Sometimes I think they announced it wrong it on purpose to get in my head,” he shared with a straight face. “Literally. They would keep doing it the whole game.”
Did the tactic work?
“Nah,” he said, with a smile.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
