Jayhawks’ secondary taking shape

By Robert Sinclair     Apr 10, 2001

Kansas University might want to see if it’s too late to alter its football schedule for this fall because Saturdays certainly haven’t been kind to the Jayhawks this spring.

KU coach Terry Allen confirmed Monday that senior cornerback Andrew Davison was done for the spring after suffering a separated shoulder during Saturday’s scrimmage. Three other Jayhawks senior center Jason Stevenson (high ankle sprain), junior flanker Byron Gasaway (turf toe) and red-shirt freshman cornerback Johnny McCoy (broken hand) also had their springs cut short Saturday.

“We always get banged up in springtime,” Allen said. “It was probably an excessive amount for one scrimmage, but that’s the luxury of spring ball, the fact that you don’t have to play a week later with sprained ankles.”

Sophomore halfback Reggie Duncan (ankle sprain) and junior tight end David Hurst (ankle sprain) also suffered injuries Saturday, but they practiced Monday. Red-shirt freshman running back Tony Stubbs (ankle sprain) should be back by the end of the week, as should junior offensive right guard Tony Damiani (shoulder).

“You never like to get anybody hurt,” Allen said. “I think we’ll be OK with Andrew. He’ll be fine.”

With both Davison and McCoy the top two left cornerbacks on the depth chart out, sophomore corner Carl Ivey worked with the first team Monday.

“That’s real unfortunate that happened, but we’ll be all right,” senior right cornerback Quincy Roe said. “Johnny McCoy broke his hand, so we haven’t had the best of luck back there.”

Roe and Davison represent the two returners in KU’s defensive backfield, which lost both safeties. In addition to new teammates in the secondary, Roe and Davison also have a new secondary coach, defensive coordinator Tom Hayes.

Hayes, who replaced Ardell Wiegandt, likes what he’s seen in Davison.

“You can just tell he’s a polished veteran player in the Big 12,” Hayes said. “He’s fearless and gets up in your face and challenges those receivers. He just likes to play the game and I love coaching guys who like to play. That’s really what it comes down to.

“You recruit and you recruit and you recruit talent, but they also have to have a passion for the game.”

The players also have a passion for their coach.

“Coach Hayes has made us step it up a lot,” Roe said. “He’ll bring out the best things, that’s for sure. You’ve got to turn it up a notch. If you just listen to him you learn so much. I’ve learned even by just watching him and listening to him. You learn a lot quickly. He expects a lot and that’s good.”

The key for the KU defense this season could be replacing safeties Kareem High and Carl Nesmith. One of the moves the Jayhawks made in the offseason toward that end was shifting Jamarei Bryant and Matt Jordan inside.

Bryant, who transferred from Phoenix CC prior to last season, and former quarterback Jake Letourneau have been manning the safety spots this spring.

“I don’t think it’s a real big concern, but we lost some good tackling safeties,” Davison said. “But I think we’ve got more athletic safeties this year, guys who can cover a lot more ground, got a lot more speed back there as far as Jamarei, Jake, Matt and Santana (Lane). This is a better, athletic secondary.

“I think overall we’ll be a better secondary this year than we were last year just for the simple fact we’ve got a lot more speed.”

The safeties don’t seem to be having too much trouble with the transition either.

“They’re getting it,” Roe said. “It’s starting to click. It’s a lot of thinking back there, a lot more than people think. We’ve just got to talk. We’re just all trying to get acclimated to coach Hayes’ new defense. But it’s coming along.”

Injury update

Not all the news was bad news on the injury front Monday. Senior left defensive tackle Nate Dwyer (wrist) dressed in pads for the first time this spring during limited action.

“Nate came back a little bit today,” Allen said. “It was good. It was nice to have him back out there. It was just minimal stuff with him.”

Up coming

The Jayhawks will practice today and Thursday before traveling to Shawnee Heights in Tecumseh for a scrimmage Saturday

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