Kansas University defensive end John Larson wasn’t playing a lot when he first joined the football team as a walk-on in 2004.
But apparently he was watching.
Larson made a leaping interception of a screen pass during the third quarter of KU’s 45-13 victory over Toledo on Saturday, rumbling back up the field and returning it 12 yards to the Toledo one-yard line.
Observant Jayhawk fans have seen that play before – by Charlton Keith, the former KU standout who made a similarly athletic snag of a screen pass in the 2005 Fort Worth Bowl and took it back for a game-clinching touchdown against Houston.
“It’s funny because Charlton had always talked about how if he gets a pick, he’s diving into the end zone even if nobody is close to him,” Larson said. “Maybe I should’ve taken his advice.”
The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Larson fell just a yard short, and running back Brandon McAnderson had to finish it with the touchdown that put Kansas up 38-7 on the ensuing drive.
So maybe it wasn’t EXACTLY like Keith’s. But his teammates were hoping it’d be.
“Seeing Larson score,” sophomore Jake Sharp said, “would’ve been pretty hilarious.”
Of course, the run-back is only icing on the cake – that Larson recorded the interception, one of three KU had Saturday.
Free safety Darrell Stuckey and cornerback Aqib Talib picked off deep balls and, combined with Larson, helped give the Jayhawks their first three interceptions of the season.
While Larson’s was something you don’t see every day, the other two were proof that Kansas is starting to defend the big play better than last year, when the defense on deep balls was a liability that plagued the Jayhawks all of 2006.
Toledo tested Kansas more than once with vertical passing, but never connected on anything. Stuckey’s pick was near the Toledo end zone and perhaps stopped a brewing scoring drive. Talib’s was on an underthrown pass when Rockets quarterback Aaron Opelt chucked on the run.
“Busted play,” Talib said of the defense’s coverage during his pick. “Luckily, he underthrew it. There was a guy way behind us.”
Regardless, the defensive effort in the secondary was a sign of progress. As for Larson? Well, that’s just something to give you a smile when you think back to Saturday’s game.
“I saw the ball coming, I made the play,” Larson said, “then I figured I should go ahead and run for the end zone.
“I tried everything I could. : but just a little short.”
