The graybeard on the Kansas University football team’s defensive line walks with a spring in his step these days.
Just two games into the season, Nate Dwyer, KU’s 6-foot-3, 300-pound junior from Stillwater, Minn., already has 15 total tackles and a team-leading 21/2 sacks.
That’s right: Dwyer, KU’s man mountain of a nose tackle, leads the team in quarterback sacks. Forget about those speed-off-the-corner guys like Chaz Murphy and Algie Atkinson. Forget about ballyhooed bullish tackle Ervin Holloman.
The Jayhawks’ sackmaster heading into today’s game against Southern Illinois (kickoff is 6 p.m. at Memorial Stadium) is a gasp grunt.
“Nate might be the biggest benefactor of having Ervin Holloman in there. He’s another big body up front to keep Nate out of double-teams,” KU coach Terry Allen said. “But Nate’s a pretty good football player. It is unusual for a nose guard to have that many sacks.”
Dwyer, the only returning lineman with major-college experience, concedes the addition of Holloman, a strong junior college transfer who added needed beef up front, helps.
But so did the realization that he no longer was going to have to split time with another nose. Last year it was senior co-captain John Williams. At the start of the season, Dwyer said, the two split playing time equally. By season’s end, Dwyer was playing five snaps to Williams’ three.
“John and I were good friends,” Dwyer said. “There was no animosity between us. I enjoyed the time I spent splitting time with him. But it was hard to get into a groove playing three plays and sitting three plays. Now I’m playing every play. I knew I had to step up my game.”
So far he has. Consider: Dwyer had 31 total tackles and three sacks his red-shirt freshman year. He made 25 total stops and three sacks last season.
Already this season, he twice has rewritten his career record for single-game tackles (seven in Week One and eight last Saturday against UAB).
“The difference is, I’m ready to play now,” Dwyer said. “My time is now. There’s nobody else ahead of me.”
Don’t think his teammates haven’t notice Dwyer has been on fire.
“He’s a force in the middle,” KU senior safety Carl Nesmith gushed. “Our whole defensive line has played well. They’re putting a lot of pressure on the ball. That makes it easy on the secondary. But Nate’s really become a force. He really controls the middle. There won’t be a lot of runs in the middle with Nate there. I know he did a lot of work in the offseason. He’s a lot stronger. He knew what he had to do to be the kind of player he could be.”
In truth, Dwyer’s emergence stems from several factors. It’s equal parts opportunity, changes in scheme and help up front.
In addition to playing nearly every snap, Dwyer has been helped by a change from a 3-4 base set to a 4-3. And having a player like Holloman, who checks in a 6-3, 285 pounds, doesn’t hurt.
“That really frees me up a lot,” Dwyer said. “In the past, I saw a lot of double-teams. There’s a lot less pressure on me inside. And I have benefited from the change in the fronts. And the personnel we have is a perfect fit. You see it. Check the stats. They’re good, and they show up every Saturday like they’re supposed to.”
Dwyer sees a world of difference between his style of play and that of Holloman, his interior linemate.
“He tries to be a more bullish player, a stronger player inside,” Dwyer said. “I try to be the fast guy. I’m not saying it always ends up that way, but I try.”
In other words, Holloman is drawing the double teams that opponents threw Dwyer’s way last season?
“I wouldn’t say that,” Dwyer said with a laugh, “but he does complain about getting double-teamed a lot.”
