Don’t confuse the Kansas defensive tackles’ newness for a lack of seasoning.
In fact, Devin Phillips’ history of starting all 36 games he played across a four-season career at Colorado State was precisely what caught the attention of position coach Jim Panagos.
“I think any player that starts every game in their career — it’s really hard to come as a freshman and play defensive line,” Panagos said Tuesday. “It’s about strength, but besides strength to play as a freshman you got to have the right character and the right toughness. And that’s what he is.”
Fellow transfer Gage Keys isn’t starting fresh at KU either, despite his newcomer status — Panagos was the one who had recruited him to attend his previous school, Minnesota, in the first place.
“I know his personality, I know his family, I know how to coach him, how he learns,” Panagos said. “The biggest thing people don’t understand in the transfer portal is even if they played in the program, it’s a whole different scheme, a whole different process.”
Added Keys: “Me and him have had a strong relationship since my high school recruitment, so we kind of just went back to that, how much we kind of trust each other, and he just laid down the foundation for how we play defense here.”
Even though Keys played just eight games in three seasons with the Golden Gophers, that connection is one of several early signs helping to provide some optimism for the KU line this coming season. The defensive tackle group is one of the least familiar units on a defense that otherwise returns practically everyone as it looks to improve on its uneven 2022 showing.
Kansas defensive lineman Gage Keys runs through a drill on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at the indoor practice facility. Photo by Nick Krug
Granted, even after losing Sam Burt, Caleb Sampson and Eddie Wilson, the defensive tackle group brings back some returning contributors. Redshirt sophomore Tommy Dunn Jr. said he’s been working on “just being more aggressive, coming off the ball harder, just little details to perfect my game.” And classmate D.J. Withers impressed Panagos with his desire to improve on the offseason.
“Last season he was always there but could not make the play, whether it was strength, whether it was being young, whether is was just not getting off blocks,” Panagos said. “And then this year he’s making plays, he’s getting confident, so I’m really excited about his growth right now as a player in this program.”
Starting and travel-squad spots are up for grabs after Burt and Sampson started 13 games apiece.
Keys, Phillips and freshmen like Marcus Calvin and Blake Herold are all new to the group, even if they come in with dramatically different backgrounds.
Kansas freshman Marcus Calvin during practice on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023.
Kansas freshman Blake Herold during practice on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023.
Panagos said Calvin has impressed him with his athleticism ever since Panagos watched him play basketball in high school, and that he’s also shown diligence in the early days of fall camp: “He wants to go twice in the drills instead of once, which I really admire and respect.” Herold is progressing well too and is up to 283 pounds, Panagos added.
“We kind of took (the freshmen) under our wing and they’re really growing,” Keys said. “They’ve made a lot of improvement. I’ve never really seen freshmen that’s been able to grow this fast in such a short amount of time.”
Phillips has also been working on establishing himself as a leader.
“I guess it’s different because you got a lot of guys that you’re new to and they’re new to me as well,” he said, “and you just got to gain those guys’ trust and respect from those guys. And I feel like once you gain that from them, just being a leader, being able to lead and help those guys out, comes with it and comes naturally.”
The union of all these players creates what Panagos called Tuesday “the most coachable room I’ve coached in 31 years.”
“I’m very excited for you to see all of us play, just because we’ve all been grinding this whole summer to kind of show the country that we’ve got a really good D-line,” Keys said, “and a lot of people might be sleeping on it, but there’s a lot of talent in this room, so I’m really excited.”
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo
Chance Parker/Journal-World photo