Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Most Underrated Position is Defensive Tackle Led by Tommy Dunn

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, is Tommy Dunn one of the biggest breakout candidates on the defense? How much does his rise help the defense overall and more on the defensive tackle position, which I think might be the most underrated position on the KU football defense and maybe overall as a team? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:00:49 You can also like and subscribe to our show on our YouTube page and check out our new Locked On website where you can catch all the Locked On shows wherever you are online. On today's edition of Locked On Jayhawks, we're previewing the defensive tackle position. Tommy Dunn, DJ Withers, guys who were kind of breaking out of that position. How valuable will that be? How good is this position going to be overall?

Starting point is 00:01:09 Because I think it might be the most underrated position unit on the entire team for KU football. First of all, this episode of the show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply. So the defensive tackle position. Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers, but specifically with Tommy Dunn because I kind of expect him to be a starter.

Starting point is 00:01:43 I think DJ Withers is going to play a big role on the team too, but I think right now more of the expectation would be that Dunn is going to be one of the starters and Wither's might be the second string as part of that two deep is that the rise of both these players and Dunn specifically could be the difference of this defensive tackle unit taking a step forward from where they were last year. You know, overall, you go back to a season ago and this was a unit that had a lot of experienced upperclassmen players, a lot of seniors at that defensive tackle position. You think of Sam Burt as kind of the perfect example of all this. Burt was, what, a six-year player at that point, a leader in the locker room,

Starting point is 00:02:21 an impactful player for the team, and an older player whose body was ready for Big 12 play and Power 5 football. And you lost a good amount at that defensive tackle position from a year ago. When you look at Caleb Sampson, you look at Sam Burt, you go on down the line of guys that you lost. Now, technically, you've lost Ron McGee because he's going to be out with a season-ending injury after.

Starting point is 00:02:44 That's unfortunate because he's going to be out with the season ending injury after, you know, that's unfortunate. Cause he, he redshirted last year to come back for this year because of how much you were losing on last year's team. So you're counting on guys in addition to the transfers and some of the additions you made that are returning to step up. And that's, that's part of becoming a good program. I think this defensive tackle position is so indicative of what this program is trying to become and what a good college football team does become.

Starting point is 00:03:08 If you become a good college football team and a good college football program where year in, year out, you're competing for bowl games, you're winning lots of games, you have to be able to self-sustain. You're not always going to be able to pluck and find the best player at the position of need in the transfer portal. You can sometimes do it, but you have to have internal growth. You have to have internal improvement at certain positions. You have to eventually be able to count on, you know, you lost a junior or senior to the NFL or

Starting point is 00:03:36 to graduation. You have to eventually be able to count on a player who maybe you brought in as a freshman and is maybe in the program for a year or two. You have to count on the fact that they're going to take that step up and be able to fill those roles. And I think when you look at this position, it maybe is the first position where you're really going to see that happen under Lance Leipold's staff because of Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers and what they bring to the table.

Starting point is 00:03:59 Defensive tackle is a big need for a team that lost a ton from last season and a team that struggled so much stopping the run a year ago. So you're looking at this position being so important. I go back to the idea, though, last year. Last year, we went into the season with big questions about the receiver position, right? With questions about who was going to be the guy at receiver who stepped up. Was there enough there at receiver? And it's not that we didn't think there was talent there.

Starting point is 00:04:27 We knew Luke Grimm was talented and Lawrence Arnold and some of these guys. We just hadn't seen it proven on a college field. Like none of the players had seasons where they had even like 500 yards receiving. So it was just unproven. There were just questions there. That's how I feel about this defense tackle group this year. I actually really like the talent of Tommy Dunn. I really like the talent of DJ Withers.

Starting point is 00:04:44 I mean, you go back to last year, over the course of the season, we were hearing excellent reviews about the level of play that Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers were improving on. And then you got to the week of the bowl practices, and with Tommy Dunn, you heard a ton of great stuff. Then in spring ball, you hear more about Tommy Dunn and DJ Withers. In fall camp, we've heard even more. These are guys with big size, who are athleticism, like high off the charts. I worded that very poorly. But both guys who are young players with a high ceiling and high potential that can take this unit to the next level. So I look at those guys.

Starting point is 00:05:17 I look at some of the transfers you brought in and maybe some of the returning players you have beyond those two. And I kind of think this one to me feels like the receiver group from last year that it would not shock me if even though this is a position group with as much as you lost, you do have questions, right? From a year before the receiver group was like, oh, you lost Kwame Lassiter, who's going to step up. You lost Sam Burt. You lost so on and so forth. Who's going to step up?

Starting point is 00:05:40 I have a lot of guys that I feel confident in are going to step up. And that doesn't even, you know, I haven't even brought up with Devin Phillips. Like, okay, Gage Keys too. Like Gage Keys might be part of the two deep as a transfer for Minnesota. Devin Phillips is probably going to be your top defensive tackle. I think he's going to be really good after coming over from Colorado State. But the internal improvement in this position, I think is going to show maybe more than any other position.

Starting point is 00:06:00 And I would not be shocked if this is your most underrated position group on the defense and on the team as a whole. And if that does end up hitting, that is a huge boon for the defense overall. Sure, there will still be questions about, you know, maybe a defensive end. Who's going to be the top pass rusher? How well are you going to be as a pass rushing unit? Those are all very important, critical questions. But as I've mentioned before, if you can at least be a good run defense team, right? If you can at least do well in that, then you'll be better than you were defensively last year

Starting point is 00:06:28 because you struggled in both areas last season. You were last in the conference in yards allowed per rush. You were eighth in the conference in yards allowed per pass. We trust the back end and the secondary. We'll do one of those position previews coming up here later this week. But, you know, you have to at least stop the run. And also, if you do stop the run, it's going to get you in more favorable third down and long situations, which is going to help

Starting point is 00:06:50 your play calling ability to stop those pass plays and maybe help you manage manufacturers and blitzes. They're going to help with the pass rush. So this becomes one of the most important positions. And I actually do expect them to make a big jump. Part of the reason I'm picking Kansas to win more games than they did a year ago in the regular season is that I am expecting Brian Borland's defense to take another jump forward. I don't know that it's going to be like significant improvement where they're going to go from giving up 35 points a game to 25 or something, but could they go up to, you know, 30, 32? I don't think it's that unreasonable. And if that's going to happen, I could see a unit like the defensive tackles improving a ton from where they

Starting point is 00:07:25 were last year. Even though you think that, yeah, you lost all these players. You're going to take a step back. I do think there's enough internal growth there. And from what you added in that this unit could be really sneaky good for this season.

Starting point is 00:07:36 So yeah, I really like what Tommy Dunn brings to the table. I really like what DJ Withers brings to the table. Gage Keys was a nice pickup from Minnesota. Devin Phillips, man, I think he's going to change that group. We keep hearing the coaches talking about how he's been as advertised. He's raising the group. He's been a leader for that group. So you have like a sixth year player who is passing down leadership, which they had last year. But that was part of the question too, not just talent wise. Could you replace what you lost? Could you

Starting point is 00:08:01 replace leadership? And Devin Phillips is helping them do that from last year's squad. And Devin Phillips is one of those dudes, when you see him, you're like, how does anybody block this guy? He has the perfect football shoulders, just a wide dude that's hard to get around, but he's still athletic. He's still quick. He's still able to rush the passer. He's still able to run down maybe a ball carrier who's kind of going laterally

Starting point is 00:08:24 on a sweep play or a stretch play to the outside. I'm really expecting Devin Phillips to be one of the best, you know, defensive tackles you've had maybe since Daniel Wise. I know that's like very high expectations, but I also like Caleb Taylor was a guy who I thought was going to break out last year. Didn't totally happen. We've heard a lot about Matt Gildersleeve and some of the additions he's made from like a weight perspective that I still wouldn't be surprised if maybe I was just a year off with Caleb Taylor.

Starting point is 00:08:48 Maybe this will be the year that he breaks out. So I actually really like this defensive tackle group. And I do think it is the sneaky, most underrated group of any of the position groups on KU football. Because everybody knows the shine of the quarterbacks and all the running back coming back and the receivers. And you know you have all this depth on the offensive line. None of the offensive units are underrated. We know they're all really good. Maybe receivers from a like conference level and from a national level is

Starting point is 00:09:11 underrated, but from a KU level, if you're in on this, you know, you, you know, all the offense is really good on the defensive side, man,

Starting point is 00:09:18 that could be the key one. And if it does end up becoming that, I think you're going to see a lot of improvements internally from this team that the defense will get better overall. All right, we're going to get to more on the defensive tackle group. Who else can fill in the rotation, maybe starting projections on that defensive line? First, though, this episode of the show is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business.

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Starting point is 00:11:20 I'm expecting Devin Phillips to be your best defensive tackle and to really make a big impact, especially against the run. He actually said his goal this year was like eight and a half sacks, which good to have good goals, good to have high goals, right? That's a good thing. That's tough for even like a stud defensive end in college football where you're playing less games and teams will double you. Defensive tackle, it's really hard to rack up a bunch of sacks, but you like that type of expectation that you do shoot high for it right um but who else there right uh dj withers is somebody i've been really impressed with uh really been talked up a lot lately i think you feel good with him on the two deep and this is a position where jim panagos um has kind of talked about you know the

Starting point is 00:11:59 defensive tackle coach like if we have eight good ones we'll rotate eight good ones because it is a position where you want to keep guys fresh not not just for the game, right? Bigger guys, you're going to get tired out more faster and you're hitting every play. So like strength-wise, it takes a lot of strength and energy out of you each and every play. It's hot out there, especially against some of these high tempo offenses. But over the course of the season, right, you want to avoid injuries. And if you have them, you want to have guys that are reliable to come in. So I kind of feel like with those three guys, want to avoid injuries. And if you have them, you want to have guys that are reliable to come in. So I kind of feel like with those three guys, you feel good there.

Starting point is 00:12:27 Even Gage Keys, like he's gained a ton of weight from when he was at Minnesota and he's had a lot of great things to say about the program and feeling more comfortable. Now he's a red shirt sophomore. So with those four guys, I feel really good. But I also,

Starting point is 00:12:39 like I said, Caleb Taylor, somebody who showed a lot of really good flashes in the 2021 season where I wasn't alone here. I remember, I think David Lawrence from the Jayhawk radio network, he was big on Caleb Taylor possibly being a breakout last year too. So he's added a lot more weight to his body. I know Lance Leipold recently talked about when he was like first coming in, or maybe it was Matt Gildersleeve that yeah, when he was playing in 2021, he was like 260, 270 pounds. Now he's at like 300, right? So he's someone who I love.

Starting point is 00:13:07 And those five defensive tackles, I feel really good about any of them kind of mixing and matching. With Keenan Caldwell too, like he's someone who I'm cool with him rotating in. And, you know, I guess you kind of add in here that we'll get into some future names here, but you had a player move from defensive end to defensive tackle. That kind of helps there with the loss of Ron McGee so really I feel good about those top five and I feel good about Keenan Caldwell being added depth so I mean if you're three deep at that position that's a strong spot to be in and then if you have certain passing downs like what if you

Starting point is 00:13:37 have a a uh I've heard some teams call it like a NASCAR package where they put in like it'll be like one defensive tackle it'll be like two defensive ends but one of the defensive ends moves into defensive tackle and then you bring like a Craig Young to defensive end there's a lot of fun things that you can do but I really do like this defensive tackle unit a lot more than maybe I thought it was before you know we got into fall camp or spring ball and you hear some of this stuff or just in general about you know you lose all this how good is this unit going to be? I'm pretty high on this defensive tackle unit. So we'll see if that ends up coming to fruition. But you feel good that the level of play, like the difference when you do go

Starting point is 00:14:15 from that top unit to that second unit and even part of that third unit. Again, Caleb Taylor was starting games for you in 2021, and now he's maybe your fourth or fifth defensive tackle. That's a great spot to be in and where you have not just felt like you do have this upper level talent that can maybe hit this year, but also from a standpoint of having that depth that you're going to need over the course of the season. And I think something else that's going to be pretty cool here with this defensive tackle unit, a lot of these guys are going to be around for several years to come. So I want to finish up with that, the depth and future pieces at defensive tackle,

Starting point is 00:14:48 what this unit could look like for the next couple of years, because I do think it's very interesting here with Locked on Jayhawks. Finishing things up with Locked on Jayhawks, talking about the kind of future names to keep an eye on, and also why this unit might be pretty covered for the next year or two, even after this year. Coming up later this week, we'll have Nick Schwert on the show with Locked on Jayhawks.

Starting point is 00:15:07 We'll have some more KU football positional previews. And how about this, man? As of this Friday, we'll be a week out from the first game against Missouri State. So that's certainly exciting coming into this. So when you look at the starting, or I guess the two deep, of what I'm projecting right now, obviously Devin Phillips transferring in from Colorado State.

Starting point is 00:15:23 This will be his only year. So that's not one that is going to be a big future move for you. Now, maybe you just go into the transfer portal next year like you did this year and you say, okay, we're going to bring on another guy like a Devin Phillips if you can find him, right? No guarantee that that guy is there or that you land him, but, you know, it doesn't hurt. But still, you look, Tommy Dunn, he's a redshirt sophomore.

Starting point is 00:15:43 So you can not just have this year out of him. You could have the following two years out of him. DJ Withers, same thing. He's a redshirt sophomore, two more years after this one. And both those guys could be playing like starter adjacent level snap numbers this year. Gage keys. Guess what? He's a redshirt sophomore. So you can have two more years out of him too. Uh, Caleb Taylor, I think is a junior. So you could have this year and next year out of him. I mean, that's pretty exciting that you could have this kind of defensive tackle core group together, that if this is a unit that does impress and can live up to my lofty expectations, that you don't just have them for this year, that you could have them for another couple years after that. And maybe that does make it that, yeah, you still are playing some young guys at the defensive tackle spot,

Starting point is 00:16:22 since a lot of them are underclassmen, although it depends how you at it if you're a redshirt sophomore technically you're an underclassman technically you're also an upperclassman because you're in year three of the program so kind of depends how you look at it maybe you view that more is yeah it's still probably take another year to get the bodies everywhere that you want them to be from a strength physicality and speed standpoint but still you're getting closer there and that is exciting that if you see flashes, if you see that level of play that I'm expecting out of him this year, imagine in 2024. Imagine possibly in 2025 if those players are another two years older from this point in time if it does work out.

Starting point is 00:16:56 There are a couple future names, though, to keep an eye on here. I'll throw this one out, too. This isn't one of those two because I don't really know if this guy's being seen as more of a defensive end or defensive tackle. I've heard good things about Blake Harold, and I think he could probably like wherever they need more coverage, they could probably make it kind of work there. He's someone who came from, I believe it was Iowa and he's continuing to like add weight to his body, but I've, I've heard some good things about him and talking to some of the

Starting point is 00:17:20 defensive linemen at media availabilities and that they've talked him up. So I don't know exactly what his role will be, but he's someone that you could see down the road making an impact Marcus Calvin um also somebody who you know I'm certainly keeping an eye on because I I really liked his profile coming out of uh the high school level and he's kind of comes in as one of those players where a lot of times like like okay for instance with Blake Harold I think on his like 24-7 sports profile he's listed around like 250 260 something like that obviously you have to get the weight up right and that's on a high school recruiting profile right it might be even lower than that so it takes some time with marcus calvin you're

Starting point is 00:17:57 talking about someone who comes in and he's listed right away on the ku football roster as like 308 pounds so you're talking about a more ready body and maybe that's a guy then you could get up to like 325 330 of like i don't know it's more dependent on the like adding good weight not just weight in general so we'll see but but that kind of catches my eye where it's like okay you're maybe a little closer to being ready to play because the body is going to be there and then the other guy who did get moved over this was was after Ron McGee had a season-ending injury, which hopefully for McGee's sake, because that was such a cool move by him to redshirt last year

Starting point is 00:18:32 and be like, listen, we've got all these defensive tackles. I want to come back, make an impact, and have another year here. Hopefully, because he's not going to get a season here, he's able to get a medical redshirt. Obviously, that would depend on him. Does he want to play another year of football, right mean coming off a season-ending injury maybe that's just something you don't want to rehab back from and you don't want to get to work on it but hopefully if that is something he wants to do he's able to get that medical redshirt and be a part of the team next

Starting point is 00:18:57 year and you know get that final send-off season but how about Tony Terry man he's a guy who was kind of as a defensive end and kind of in the same vein as Blake Harold, where it's like, well, you could be kind of a tweener between a defensive tackle, defensive end. You're still early enough in your career where we can still set the roadmap from here about, yeah, if you're a defensive tackle, you got to gain this weight and gain this strength. If you're a defensive end,

Starting point is 00:19:18 maybe we focus more on speed stuff and still try to gain some of the weight, but maybe not as much, right? So it's different ways you want to go about it. And they still are early in their career that you could shift them around. But yeah, I believe Tony Terry moving over to defensive tackle to help give them another body there with the Ron McGee injury. But he's someone I'm keeping an eye on regardless of what position he's in

Starting point is 00:19:35 because I think he's got a nice little ceiling to him. So I feel good about this unit overall at defensive tackle. Like I said, I think it's one of the more underrated units on the team and on the defense. That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Nick Schwert will be joining us on an episode later this week for Locked on Jayhawks, talking some more KU football. We're going to also get to our linebacker preview,

Starting point is 00:19:56 our defensive back preview, and we're going to get to our KU football depth chart projection. We also have a top 10 questions about KU football headed into the season. We'll get to plenty more episodes here with Locked on Jayhawks. So make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you get your podcast or on our YouTube page. You can also find everything with our new Locked on website, not just our show, Locked on Big 12, any other school that you're interested in kind of getting to know.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Till next time, see you with Locked on Jayhawks. Have a good rest of your day.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Football Most Underrated Position is Defensive Tackle Led by Tommy Dunn

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