LAWRENCE | The great Kansas running-back exodus of 2008 continued Monday when sophomore Donte Bean announced his intention to transfer from the program.</p><p>Three weeks ago, the Jayhawks had seven scholarship running backs. Now, they have four. The attrition has been swift and startling.</p><p>It began the week before players reported for fall camp, when true freshman Sean Ransburg, <em>The Star&#8217;s</em> All-Metro player of the year, was informed that he did not pass through the NCAA clearinghouse and would not be eligible to play in the fall. Then, on Sunday, sophomore Carmon Boyd-Anderson said he was leaving the team for personal reasons. KU can only hope that Bean is the last domino to fall.</p><p>&#8220;I wanted an opportunity to get on the field and play more,&#8221; Bean said. &#8220;I thought it would be a better opportunity to go to another school. We&#8217;ve got a whole group of running backs right now.&#8221;</p><p>Hardly. The Jayhawks look solid at the top with junior-college transfer Jocques Crawford, junior Jake Sharp and junior Angus Quigley, but depth will be an issue. The only other available running back on the roster is redshirt freshman Rell Lewis, who is transitioning from wide receiver. If one of KU&#8217;s top three runners suffers an injury, it would appear that Lewis will be called upon much earlier than expected.</p><p>Boyd-Anderson, Rivals.com&#8217;s No. 37 overall running back in the class of 2007, and Bean, the No. 15 overall all-purpose back in 2006, are both awaiting their official release from KU. While Boyd-Anderson is uncertain about his eventual destination, Bean is hoping to end up at Washburn in Topeka. Bean&#8217;s brother, Brandon Walker, is a senior running back there.</p><p>Bean echoed Boyd-Anderson in saying that he has no hard feelings toward KU. Bean said he made his decision after not &#8220;doing much&#8221; during two-a-days.</p><p>Neither player has had much of a chance to show his skills; Boyd-Anderson carried 24 times for 91 yards and a touchdown last season, while Bean carried seven times for 20 yards.</p><p>Bean said his and Boyd-Anderson&#8217;s decisions were unrelated.</p><p>&#8220;Carmon left for his own reasons,&#8221; Bean said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not mad at anything. That&#8217;s how life is sometimes. I&#8217;m going to be fine somewhere else.&#8221;</p><p>Ransburg, under normal circumstances, probably would have redshirted this year. But, given the defections of Boyd-Anderson and Bean, the Jayhawks may have had to look at his situation in a different light. It&#8217;s a moot point now, with Ransburg ineligible to play and living at home in Harrisonville.</p><p>Ransburg&#8217;s mother, Debbie Pulliam, told <em>The Star</em> that Ransburg thought he had taken all of the core classes to pass through the clearinghouse.</p><p>He moved up to Lawrence and took summer classes in June and July before finding out that he was missing a core class that he should have taken in high school. He has to take an English literature class at Harrisonville High before he can play for KU.</p><p>KU has agreed to let Ransburg return to the program in January once he completes his coursework.</p><p>&#8226;<strong>A NEW VIEW: </strong>The Jayhawks&#8217; new practice fields at the Anderson Family Football Complex have one drawback for KU coach Mark Mangino: Because of their location at the bottom of Campanile Hill, it is much easier for fans to watch practice.</p><p>Mangino, who is notorious for the lengths he will go to keep his practices closed, asked a few fans to leave their perch at a recent practice. Jim Marchiony, KU associate athletic director for external relations, said that won&#8217;t happen again because the area surrounding the fields is public property.</p><p>&#8220;Mississippi Street is a public street,&#8221; Marchiony said. &#8220;We knew just by looking at the geography that there&#8217;d be a view of the practice field. It&#8217;s not really that big a deal. If they want to put new wrinkles in, they have other options to go to. They can go to the stadium or go indoors.&#8221;