Matt Tait’s football notebook: Communication an issue for KU

By Matt Tait     Oct 11, 2011

Nick Krug
Kansas defensive end Toben Opurum (35) tries to bring down Oklahoma State running back Joseph Randle during the first quarter on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011 at Boone Pickens Stadium.

After reflecting on Saturday’s loss for a few of days, KU coach Turner Gill said Monday there were a couple of factors that led to the loss to OSU.

“Our guys didn’t tackle quite as well, and the guys were not doing what they were told to do in some cases,” Gill said. “We just have to continue to correct those things and continue to try to get better at it.”

Asked further about the tackling concerns, Gill said the team addresses it each week.

“We have a few plays in practice on Tuesdays where we will go live,” he said. “Probably six plays or so where we’ll try to get some of that going. You can’t tackle all day long, but you can work on your technique, you can do things to make sure you’re in the right position, and that way you don’t have to be truly tackling but you can face up the ball carrier and still work on your technique and do what we call two-hand tag at the hip and get yourself in position to make the play.”

Keeston Terry update

Gill said red-shirt freshman safety Keeston Terry, who left Saturday’s game due to an undisclosed injury, remained questionable for this week’s match-up with Oklahoma.

“We’re gonna have to wait and see and evaluate him as we go here in the next three or four days, particularly by Wednesday,” Gill said. “He’s definitely better, and we anticipate him to practice (today), and we’re just gonna take it one day at a time. Obviously, he’s probably questionable.”

Red-shirt freshman running back Brandon Bourbon (concussion) also is questionable for the Oklahoma game.

Sunflower Showdown kickoff set

The Kansas vs. Kansas State football game, Oct. 22 at Memorial Stadium, will kick off at 11 a.m., the Big 12 announced Monday. The contest will be televised on FSN and will mark the third time this season that the Jayhawks have started before noon in the Central time zone. The Georgia Tech game started at 11:30 Central, and the Texas Tech game had an 11 a.m. kickoff.

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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.