Keeston Terry switch frees safety’s mind

By Matt Tait     Oct 5, 2011

Last week, against Texas Tech, Kansas University red-shirt freshman Keeston Terry switched positions for the second time in his seven-game career.

However, unlike the first move, which came in 2010 and took Terry from wide receiver to safety, the Blue Springs, Mo., native had to shift just a few feet this time. After playing the first three games of the season at strong safety, Terry switched over to free safety for the Jayhawks’ fourth game. Why the move?

“We discussed it and kind of explained to him why we thought that would help him a little bit,” KU coach Turner Gill said Tuesday. “He was making less calls as far as taking to the corners, talking to the linebackers. The free safety does not have to make as many calls. So, him as a freshman, and with (Bradley) McDougald being a little bit more experienced, that has made Keeston have to worry less about making calls and now he can focus on trying to make some plays.”

Terry did just that in last week’s loss, finishing with a team-high 12 tackles and KU’s first interception of the season.

“It was good to see him have some success,” Gill said. “Again, he’s really a freshman even though I know he’s been here two years. But this is his first year playing a lot of ball and playing on the defensive side.”

McDougald, a junior who also has done some moving around during his Kansas career, said the coaches both asked him and told him the switch was going to be made.

“They know I’m a flexible person,” McDougald said. “I’ve tried to stay that way my whole career, and I’ve always been that way playing sports. Anywhere my team needs me, I’m gonna play.”

With the strong safety having more responsibility on the boundary receivers, McDougald realized right away that the new spot was going to be a greater challenge. Making the calls came easy to him. Facing the tougher receivers brought back memories of some former teammates.

“I didn’t really see it as being that much difference,” said McDougald, who played wide receiver during most of 2009 and 2010. “You tend to play the better receivers in the boundary, so I was definitely up for the challenge. A lot of the one-on-one battles are done on the boundary side. When we had our high-powered offense with (Dezmon) Briscoe and Kerry (Meier), we usually lined both of them up into the boundary. It’s a shorter throw and a more efficient play.”

This move, as with most Gill has made at Kansas, was all about efficiency. KU’s second-year head coach now believes Terry is in the right spot.

“He’s a good football player,” Gill said. “And I think he’s going to be a heck of a player for us as we continue to move on.”

Gill points to numbers

Perhaps sensing growing skepticism about the claims that the KU defense has improved, Gill, on Tuesday, pointed to some hard, cold facts to emphasize the point on Tuesday.

“The first three games, we only had three three-and-outs,” Gill said. “Against Texas Tech, we actually had three three-and-outs and that’s very important for us.”

Gill added that the KU defense has recorded twice as many pass break-ups this year compared to the number they had through four games a year ago.

“Obviously, we have a ways to go as far as getting a level we want to be at,” Gill said. “But there are some positive things happening.”

That said, there also exist some numbers that work against Gill’s claims. Those numbers are KU’s rankings in the NCAA’s defensive categories. Out of 120 FBS programs, the Jayhawks currently rank 119th in total defense, 118th in rushing defense and 108th in passing defense.

Oklahoma State, which KU will play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Stillwater, Okla., ranks 104th overall, 85th in rushing defense and 95th in pass D.

Special teams not special

After last week’s loss to Texas Tech, Gill said the Jayhawks needed to get a better effort from their special teams in order for the offense and defense to succeed.

Tuesday, Gill went deeper.

“Punt returns have probably been the one area where I’ve been very disappointed,” he said. “I don’t like to see that we haven’t had any significant plays where we’ve had positive returns. You can’t help your football team make more positive things happen when you’re not doing anything in the punt returns. We are going to spend a little more time in practice working on that and make sure we improve in that area.”

Part of the problem here is that the Jayhawks’ opponents rarely punt. While KU has forced 12 punts this season, return man D.J. Beshears has been able to return just three of them. And when he has, Beshears has gone backwards, totaling minus-seven yards on those three returns.

Gill said he had faith in Beshears’ ability and that the goal was to get at least 10 yards per punt return.

“We’re gonna try some new personnel,” Gill said. “Some guys that can run and be more physical as far as their blocking at the line of scrimmage. And we may try some different schemes to try to help ourselves get some more yards.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.