Kansas wide receiver Nahzae Cox had plenty of opportunities for a moment in the sun against his former team on Saturday afternoon.
After Cox had garnered five combined targets in his first three games as a Jayhawk, he got four down the field in the first half of the 55-0 win over Middle Tennessee. But quite a few of those, were they to be successful, would have required a sudden boost of speed, like when quarterback Isaiah Marshall missed him by a couple steps late in the first quarter, or a one-handed catch between Blue Raiders, like in the end zone just before halftime.
The game plan that gave Cox his fair share of chances was no accident, to hear the man himself tell it.
“(Associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki) told me in the beginning of the week, he was like, ‘We’re going to get you the ball. We’re going to try to get you out there (with) deep shots,'” Cox said postgame. “Unfortunately I didn’t catch as many as I wanted to. But I just came back second half, washed it off and just kept playing.”
The former Blue Raider eventually earned the spotlight, gaining a bit of space from cornerback Jackson Lowe off the line and outmuscling him for a contested catch in the end zone and a 34-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
“I was like, ‘Man, finally!'” Cox said. “For real. I know I can make those plays, but you know you can’t catch them all.”
Cox wasn’t surprised that he was able to make his former team pay for its press coverage: “We just had a plan, if they was coming in to press, we was just going to run by them and just show what I can do on the field, and all of us as receivers. We had deep shots planned because we knew we could run by them.”
That went down as the lone passing touchdown on a day when KU scored six times on the ground. Marshall said he identified the Blue Raiders’ cover-zero look right off the bat and knew he was getting the ball to Cox right away.
“I missed him first quarter, so just coming back to him and seeing him go up and make a great play, I mean, great catch and everything, so just seeing that, I was so proud of him, I was very happy,” Marshall said.
Cox earned bragging rights, but he also had the chance to reminisce with at least one former teammate.
Safety Kalen Woods played with Cox at MTSU, but they had also faced off back when they were each playing at California community colleges, Woods at San Mateo and Cox at Fresno City. They spoke both before and after the game, discussing how it would likely be their last time getting the chance to play against each other.
“I pray they have good luck on their season,” Cox said.
KU takes on a couple more of its players’ former teams this year — one of Dylan Edwards’ (Kansas State), one of Corey Gordon’s (Baylor), Trey Lathan’s (West Virginia) and Kasen Carpenter’s (Oklahoma State).
“We got the win, that’s the most important thing for me,” Cox said. “Shoot, I just came in ready to work and just trying to get the win.”
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World
