All offseason, first-year Kansas University football coach David Beaty drilled into the psyche of his players, assistant coaches and anyone else who would listen the importance of special teams for the Jayhawks’ chances this season.
Through one week of the 2015 season, it looks as if the extra attention paid off.
Despite suffering a deflating loss to FCS foe South Dakota State in the home opener last Saturday, Beaty praised the work of his special teams, which delivered a touchdown, set up another key drive with a nice punt return, launched four touchbacks (on seven tries) and demonstrated no coverage issues or protection breakdowns in any area.
In short, Beaty said KU’s special teams performance was the only one of the three core areas KU has to win on a weekly basis that came through, with the Jayhawks falling flat in turnover margin and the penalty war.
“We’ve got one of the three going in the right direction,” Beaty said following the loss. “We just need to make sure we maintain that and really continue to work on getting better at those other two, and I think we can get closer to where we want to be.”
Not content to simply tip his cap to the special teams units as a whole, Beaty went one step further and praised the preparation of one of his assistant coaches.
“Probably most proud of the rookie, Gary Hyman,” Beaty said of his special teams coordinator. “His third of the game had a touchdown return, had a return that gave us a chance to tie the football game. We had several touchbacks in the game, and we had a couple inside the 20. And then probably the biggest challenge we were concerned about going into that game was hemming up No. 22 (JeRyan Butler) on that punt return. And (Hyman’s) coverage, I could see technique working on tape. He did a really good job getting his guys ready to play. I was really, really pleased with the job that he did.”
WR rotation
Both Beaty and offensive coordinator Rob Likens said they were pleased with last week’s production from the wide receiver position, especially for a first game in a new offense.
In all, seven different KU wideouts hauled 16 passes for 239 yards against the Jackrabbits. And Beaty and Likens said to expect more of the same in the weeks ahead.
“We do not care who is in there,” Beaty said. “If you are in the two-deep and make that two-deep and you’ve earned it, we are not going to put a certain guy in on third down, because the (second-string) guy is just as good as him.”
Added Likens: “We use that as a recruiting tool. We are going to play eight to 10 receivers every game. There are so many opportunities out there for guys to get playing time, it piques everyone’s interest in practice. I was a lifer on the scout team, so I know what it is like to be at practice for two hours. But with these guys, it is active however long we practice. They are in and out, in and out, getting a lot of reps.”
Run and gun
KU’s 90 plays last week marked the fourth highest total in college football during the opening week of the season, with only six other teams running more than 90 plays.
Likens said he loved the team’s pace and urgency and believed things could move even faster in the coming weeks.
“After watching the game, I felt like we could have gotten over 100 plays,” said Likens of a number that would’ve surpassed Florida Atlantic’s NCAA-leading 96. “We just have to get the ball snapped a little bit quicker…. We were able to have five or six drives of nine or more plays. That really helped.”
Players of the week
Senior wide receiver Tre’ Parmalee (126 total yards and 1 TD), senior linebacker Marcquis Roberts (7 tackles, 5 solo) and freshman return specialist Ryan Schadler (104 return yards and 1 TD) were named the offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week for the Jayhawks following last week’s loss to SDSU.
In addition, running back J.J. Jolaoso (offense), linebacker Hudson Hall (defense) and cover man Keith Loneker Jr. (special teams) earned scout team player of the week honors.