Veteran cornerback D.J. Graham II quite obviously provides his main source of value to the Kansas football team when he is on the field.
“He’s a vocal guy who has a lot of experience, and so when he’s out on the football field, it calms a lot of those younger guys down,” defensive backs Brandon Shelby said.
But in recent weeks, Graham has had to apply his expertise primarily from the sidelines.
His fall camp, as he puts it, has featured “a little adversity.” While he is now easing his way back into action — he said he’s still not 100% but is improving day by day ahead of KU’s season opener on Aug. 23 — Graham, a likely starter at outside corner, was limited during camp. He said on Thursday that he has been dealing with nerve damage.
“It was eating at me not to be able to participate,” he said. “I want to put in sweat equity with my teammates, but it feels good getting back out there and running around a little bit and getting to cover guys again.”
The redshirt senior has seen a lot over his past five years of college football, which included four years at Oklahoma, one at Utah State and a brief position change along the way.
That sort of experience is in some sense out of place in a room composed nearly exclusively of freshman and sophomores, with second-year players like Austin Alexander and Jalen Todd vying for playing time this season. Redshirt junior Syeed Gibbs, another transfer, is the main exception.
“It makes me feel old, that’s for sure,” Graham said. “I’ve never, ever been the oldest guy in the room. I don’t think I am — I think (safety) Jalen Dye’s still older than me.”
Whoever is closest in age to a coach, Graham has been closest in demeanor. Inspired by defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald’s suggestion, “See something, say something,” Graham has pointed out details to fellow defensive backs regarding coverages or fighting through blocks, all in the hopes of helping his younger teammates get better.
“That’s the least I can do,” Graham said, adding that it would be “absolutely selfish” for him not to.
Alexander, a redshirt freshman from Hazel Crest, Ill., who has stepped in for Graham during camp, recounted one example: “D.J. lets you know if the receiver’s split — maybe he’ll be on the sideline screaming, ‘Look at his split.’ That helps, you know? ‘Look where the back is.’ He helps me see the whole picture when he’s not even on the field.”
Shelby recalled a moment of his own from a practice on Aug. 6.
“We had to go to the box,” he said. “We’re in a new stadium and he helps us out with substitution. Those young guys come off the field and he talks to them, calms them down. ‘Hey, this is what you saw, this is what you’re looking at.’ He’s a veteran presence out there. It’s really good to have.”
Indeed, Shelby said that (as on the field) Graham is a “calming spirit on the sideline,” whose demeanor presents a contrast with “hollering and yelling” coaches.
Graham said he appreciates how well his teammates take it when he tries to help them out — better than how he took it when he was a freshman back in 2020.
“It’s always from love and trying to get you better, trying to get my teammates better,” he said. “… I remember when I was a freshman and one of the older seniors would say something to me, and their tone of voice was, you know, you don’t want to hear that sometimes, but I just appreciate, sometimes if I do raise my voice or something like that, the way they take it is super mature.”
Now, Graham said that the younger corners have “skyrocketed.”
“They have all the tools to play on any given day, play on any given Saturday and eventually play on Sundays,” he said.
How much they have to play for the Jayhawks in the near term, of course, depends in part on Graham’s ongoing improvement.
“It’s really, really challenging,” he said. “What I had going on, it’s frustrating, but it also humbles you, and it makes you appreciate to be completely 100% available. But no, I’m working through it. Like I said, I’m getting my feet back under me.”
