Terry Allen’s biggest mistake last season didn’t come on the football field.
It didn’t come in the practice field, either, or in any pregame planning session.
Allen’s biggest mistake came in the preseason, when he went public with his belief hope? that the 1999 KU football team had a reasonable shot to go bowling.
Months later, the Jayhawks struggled to a 5-7 season and sat out the postseason again.
“Did we have unrealistic expectations last year?” asks Allen, who has coached the Jayhawks to 5-6, 4-7 and 5-7 records the past three seasons. “Maybe. Did I build unrealistic expectations by saying we had a chance to go to a bowl? Maybe, but I really thought we did. Maybe those expectations were a little premature, but we’re getting there. We really are.”
Will they get there this season? Allen’s not going to make that mistake again.
“It’s really hard from that standpoint,” he said. “We’ll be better than we were a year ago. You know what our expectations were a year ago. Make of that what you want. But there’s no question in my mind we’ll be better.”
All signs point to that. Saddled with low overall numbers from the start, Allen has gradually upgraded both the depth and abilities at just about every position.
KU’s venerable Memorial Stadium has been upgraded to the point it’s no longer an eyesore, and Allen credits his new digs with consecutive best-ever recruiting classes.
Allen was able to redshirt his entire freshman class a year ago even though a member or two of that class could have helped last season and Allen has enough skill position players to run the kind of razzle dazzle offense he was known for from his days at Northern Iowa.
In other words, last year might have been rushing the process a bit. The time is now for the Jayhawks.
“If you look at our team this year compared to last year, and the year before, and the year before, we’ve gotten better every year, as you’d expect,” Allen said. “We’ve got it moving in the right direction. I think we have our best team. Whether it’s competitive enough to take it to the next level remains to be seen. But there’s no question we have better and more football players at most positions.
“You want to be pessimistically optimistic. It’s coming together. You’d like to have things happen the first year, but I don’t think the pieces for the puzzle were in place yet. You’re still putting the pieces together in the second year, and the third year things are really starting to fall into place.”
That’s not to say all the pieces are in place now. If they were, Allen wouldn’t have gone out and signed a whopping 11 junior college transfers, at least three of whom Allen hopes to have in his starting lineup this season.
“You don’t build programs with jucos,” Allen said. “You build programs with four and five-year players, and that’s what we’ve tried to do and will continue to do. But we had some specific positional needs to fill, and we felt by redshirting the entire class last year, we could bring in a big junior college class without compromising our program.”
In other words, Allen’s eyes for so long have been cast to the long term, he’s willing to bring in a large group of immediate contributors to get KU to the next level and use the installed base to keep the Jayhawks there.
Allen singles out the defensive line and secondary for examples. Those are two of KU’s greatest need areas going into the 2000 season. Throw in the offensive line questions, and Allen’s turnaround project is far from settled.
But the Jayhawks have made great strides in many areas.
At quarterback, for example, Kansas will start Dylen Smith, one of the most exciting QBs to wear the crimson and blue since Mark Williams another junior college transfer, by the way, who blossomed as a senior led the Jayhawks to the 1995 Aloha Bowl, KU’s last postseason appearance.
“Dylen’s a good player,” Allen said. “He showed that last year. It was tough for him. He reported in the fall and we rushed him to get him ready. It’s hard learning a new offense, and it took time for him to get a handle on it. It’s awfully tough for a leader to lead when he doesn’t know the plays. That’s why this year is so different. Dylen has made vast improvements since last year.
“He showed last year he has the ability. Now he has all the other things that go with it the understanding of the offense, the leadership.”
Smith will start in a crowded backfield. Fullback Moran Norris is, believe it or not, bigger and stronger than a year ago and he gives the Jayhawks a punishing back they haven’t had in years.
He’ll be complemented by David Winbush, a speedy peanut who, after flirting with the 1,000-yard plateau as a sophomore, hopes to atone for a disappointing junior year.
Both of those players will be pushed by a red-shirt freshman threesome of Reggie Duncan, Harold McClendon and Daniel Coke.
“If we stay healthy, we think we’ll be pretty good there,” Allen said. “The big thing is, we have the personnel to run an offense that matches the team we’re playing. We can play the root-’em-out with Moran, or the finesse game with Dylen and David. And we think we can play the passing game, too.”
They’d better be able to, what with a receiving corps that’s as good as Kansas has had in decades if ever. It starts with Harrison Hill, whose deceptive speed combined with soft hands and precise routes make him a dangerous weapon. He’ll be joined by Byron Gasaway and Termaine Fulton, two speedy play-makers who sat out last season as medical redshirts. Throw in possession receivers Algen Williams and Barry Goodrich, red-shirt freshman burner Derick Mills and, last but not least, Roger Ross, a former NJCAA All-American whose transfer from junior college gives KU yet another quick-as-a-hiccup pass-catcher. Now also consider KU’s top two tight ends David Hurst and Jason Gulley return, giving the Jayhawks eight of their top 10 pass-catchers from a year ago.
It’s enough to make Smith eager to fling.
“I’m really impressed with our receivers,” Smith said. “Last year I thought we had pretty good guys, and almost all of them are back. Then we get Byron and Termaine back and we’re that much better. And Derick is fast. (Ross) is supposed to be good. And that’s not even considering the tight ends. We should have plenty of weapons.”
Whether the offensive line will allow the Jayhawks to let those weapons fly or keep them holstered remains to be seen.
Kansas must find replacements for longtime starters Chris Enneking at center and Dameon Hunt at left guard. The key to the line could be the development of Marc Owen, an 11-game starter at right guard a year ago who has been shifted over to center, and Justin Sands, a defensive lineman who moved to left offensive guard in the spring.
“I’d like to think our offensive line will get better,” Allen said. “We’re still pretty marginal there. A lot of it depends on how well Chuck Jarvis holds up at right guard. He’s kind of pivotal. If he can hold up there, we can leave Owen at center and be that much better. I like our tackles John Oddonetto, our best offensive lineman, and Justin Hartwig. And we think Justin has a lot of potential. That’s a question mark, but I think we have the personnel there to be adequate, at least.”
Allen hopes to be able to say the same for the defensive line this fall. Nose tackle Nate Dwyer is the only returning defensive lineman with starting experience. Heck, he’s the only player among the top eight who returned. But Allen is counting on at least two ballyhooed juco transfers from among Demond Benford, John Culp and Ervin Holloman to fill in the gaps.
“Nate’s a solid player, and I think he’ll be better now that he’s the guy up there,” Allen said. “Tony Strickland will be good for us. And we’re counting on those juco guys. The good thing about them is, with the defensive line you just say, ‘Go to the ball,’ or, ‘Go get the ball.’ You don’t have to help them along like offensive linemen, and they’re good, proven players. Plus, we had two guys Ryan Atkinson and Marquis Hayes go through spring with us. We know what they can do, and they can help us.”
KU’s beleaguered defensive secondary, which had a hand in staking the Jayhawks’ claim to worst pass-defense team in the Big 12 last season, is similarly unsettled.
Kansas is solid at safety, with the return of hard-hitting Big 12 newcomer of the year Carl Nesmith at free safety and Kareem High at strong. Andrew Davison, a 12-game starter a year ago at right cornerback, and Quincy Roe, who started the first seven games last season, also are back. But Allen would love for juco transfer Jamarei Bryant to take the starting job alongside Davison and have red-shirt freshman Carl Ivey healthy enough to push all the corners.
“Drew had a really good spring, and we still think he can be pretty good for us,” Allen said. “I think he’d tell you he had a disappointing year last year, but we still think he can be pretty good. Ivey’s kind of the enigma. He’s been hurt, so we haven’t been able to see much out of him. When the lights turn on, he can do it, but he’s missed so much practice the jury’s still kind of out on him. The good thing about Bryant coming in is, you can put him out there on their best receiver and say, ‘Shut him down.’ If he does, good, he can do it and you go on.”
Allen thinks KU has plenty of guys who can do it at linebacker. With the exception of Andrew LeClair, who at mid-summer decided to transfer closer to his North Dakota home, everybody’s back, inside and out, and a highly regarded juco transfer De’Nard Whitfield reported over the summer.
“We don’t like to talk about potential,” KU linebackers coach Mark Farley said. “We like to think we can be pretty good. We have a lot of flexibility there, guys who can play inside and out and even on the line outside if we need to. Just looking at us, we can be awfully good, with good, athletic, physical players and lots of them. But we still have to go out and prove it.”
Kansas seems adequate, at least, in the kicking game, too. Both punter Joey Pelfanio, a potential all-conference-caliber kicker, is back, along with senior place-kicker Joe Garcia, who hopes to bounce back from a disappointing junior year.
“The ball’s in their court now,” Allen said. “After spring ball, we had a long meeting with them. We told them there are several areas where we need to improve. They have to take it upon themselves as individuals to make that improvement. There’s so much they can do snaps and holds and footwork and repetitions and catching balls. There’s so much they can do to improve between the end of spring and the fall that can make a difference for us. We’re still talking about a bowl game as that golden ring, but they have to do the individual things to bring that ring within reach.”