Mello Dotson was coming in for a tackle when he wound up with his first interception of the season.
Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer saw receiver Pat Bryant with a step on linebacker Rich Miller in the flat, but he didn’t count on Dotson screaming down from his secondary spot. Dotson laid a blow on Bryant, who had already failed to secured the ball, and the cornerback pulled it in himself after a couple of bounces, securing an interception as he went to the ground.
“Good things happen when you sprint to the ball,” Dotson said Tuesday.
That was the third pick for the Kansas defense (from three different players) since the fourth quarter of its season opener against Missouri State, and it tacked on a fourth — the second in consecutive games from Kwinton Lassiter — to seal the win over the Illini.
“If we can get two a game,” defensive coordinator Brian Borland said Tuesday, “I don’t know that we’d be too unhappy with that.”
The Jayhawks, who forced fewer than one per game last season, will look to keep up their ball-hawking on the road at Nevada this Saturday. They’ll be doing it, at least initially, without top corner Cobee Bryant, responsible for one of those four picks, who is suspended for the first half due to a targeting penalty.
“It’s proven that we have other players in the room that can step up and take control of that position,” Dotson said.
Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant (2) celebrates with safety Kenny Logan Jr. (1) after intercepting a pass during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Missouri State Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, in Lawrence.
Kansas cornerback Kalon Gervin, right, slaps hands with teammate B.J. Dilworth during practice on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.
Kalon Gervin will move outside from his usual inside slot to take over for Bryant — the sort of versatility that has earned the former Michigan State transfer the trust of his coaching staff. (Defensive pass game coordinator Jordan Peterson said of Gervin last month, “You want your daughter to marry a guy like him.”) Lassiter will be in the mix as well, and with LSU transfer Damarius McGhee dealing with a back injury, redshirt freshman Brian Dilworth could be next up.
For this game, Dotson will be the primary fixed point in the otherwise changing secondary.
“I think Mello’s done a really good job,” Borland said. “He’s playing with a lot more confidence, he’s trusting his ability, trusting his technique and he’s been able to play a lot closer to players than maybe he had in the past, or at least a little bit closer.”
The fourth-year player arrived at KU in 2020 with the previous coaching staff but has become a reliable option on the outside for Borland and Peterson, and started 21 of 25 possible games between 2021 and 2022, picking off three passes along the way.
Besides the increased confidence, Dotson said he’s worked on becoming more physical — a theme of the Jayhawks’ offseason and, more recently, its Illinois game week as it prepared to take on Big Ten Conference talent.
He and his unit helped their teammates on the defensive line earn their unprecedented six-sack performance against the Illini by marking their men tightly downfield, Borland said.
“Sometimes the quarterback had to hang onto the ball a little bit and that allowed the rush to get there,” Borland said.
Even with Nevada’s recent struggles, the Wolf Pack should be able to take some shots to test Dotson and the defensive backfield this week. Nevada managed to put up 311 passing yards and a touchdown against USC, now a top-five team, back in Week 1. Receiver Jamaal Bell already has 16 catches for 188 yards in two games.
“They’re a big-play team,” defensive tackle DJ Withers said. “… They’ve been losing by big deficits, but it’s really just been their fault they’ve made a lot of mistakes. So we’ve been watching the film, they make a lot of big plays. So just trying to slow that down, we feel like we can come out with a win.”
That opportunity to pick up another win at this transitional juncture — between the marquee victory over Illinois and the conference opener on ESPN against BYU next week — keeps the Jayhawk defense centered.
“I think everybody’s still on the same accord,” Dotson said. “Everybody’s still locked in and ready to get to conference play, but we still got to get past this game right here; we can’t just take them lightly.”