Dariss Lomax didn't play a down of college football last season, yet he led Kansas with 11 total stops in the Jayhawks' season-opening loss to Notre Dame last Saturday.
Kareem High was toiling at Navarro (Texas) Junior College last season, but he had nine total stops against the Fighting Irish.
Justin Sands was languishing on the Kansas defensive scout team a year ago. He checked in with eight total tackles.
Carl Nesmith was playing wide receiver for Butler County Community College last year at this time. He had five stops against the Irish.
Lomax, Sands and Nesmith also recorded an interception each of Irish QB Jarious Jackson, accounting for all of the Jayhawks' pickoffs Saturday.
All told, Jayhawks who didn't play a down for Kansas last season accounted for 35 of KU's 81 total tackles in KU's 48-13 loss to Notre Dame.
"I'm encouraged by that," KU coach Terry Allen said. "Once you get through the disappointment and frustration I've expressed about all the things in the game -- turnovers, blunders -- defensively, we're better than last year. In fact, I think we have a chance to be pretty good."
The final score shows the Irish ran off seven touchdowns. But two were charged to the offense, and two fourth-quarter scores could be attributed to Kansas' reserves.
"I'd feel a lot worse," Allen said, "if that was ones on ones."
Now, factor in the field-position factor. Though Kansas was boosted in that department by punter Joey Pelfanio's 50.5-yard average on six punts, turnovers worked in Notre Dame's favor.
While Kansas started its drives, on average, on its own 32-yard line, Notre Dame's average starting field position was its 42. Kansas started three drives inside its own 20, while Notre Dame had just one inside its 20.
In other words, Kansas' first-string defense wasn't scorched for all 48 points, and more often than not it was saddled with poor field position.
Thank the newcomers, in large part, for keeping it as close as it was.
"I think if you look at those numbers, it says we're here to play, to help, to do whatever we can to get it done," said High, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound strong safety from Garland (Texas) Lakeview Centennial High by way of Navarro Junior College. "Our performance could have been better. But we made some good tackles, some key tackles and a lot of tackles.
"Defensively, we thought we played well, but we could have played a lot better. We could have stopped more key drives. But considering that was Notre Dame, we know we can play with the best of them."
High does have one regret on the day -- that he hadn't been out-intercepted by Lomax, a 6-2, 235-pound junior linebacker from Kansas City Washington High who sat out last season with academic problems, and Sands, a 6-7, 275-pound red-shirt freshman from Lawton (Iowa) Lawton-Bronson High.
"I got ragged on (Tuesday) by Dariss about that," High said. "He was, like, 'I got an interception and you didn't.' But I don't really care who gets 'em as long as we get 'em. They help the defense and they get the offense back on the field."
Nesmith, a 6-3, 215-pounder from Jacksonville (Fla.) Raines High by way of Butler County CC, had an interception, which he returned for 20 yards.
"I was supposed to score," Nesmith said. "But I let the quarterback tackle me. I was so surprised I got it."
With good reason. A wideout-kick returner at Butler, Nesmith hasn't played safety since high school, and then only sparingly.
"I had a little bit of jitters," Nesmith said, "but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was a little nervous since I've never really played the position until now, but I consider myself an athlete. Everything's falling in good. I've still got a lot to learn, but it's fun."
Kansas took Sunday and Monday off before returning to practice Tuesday. KU is idle until the Sept. 11 home opener against Cal State Northridge.
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Trainer: Allen was concerned about Tuesday's practice beforehand. He needn't have been.
"I thought this was a pretty important practice for us mentally," Allen said. "We were coming back from the hype of Notre Dame, our first practice without a game. The ducks really lined up for a bad day. But we had a good practice. If this is the first sign, that should be real positive."
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Injury update: Kansas' top two running backs -- David Winbush, a 5-7, 180-pound junior from Killeen (Texas) Ellison High, and Mitch Bowles, a 5-8, 190-pound senior from Las Vegas (Nev.) El Dorado High -- did not practice Tuesday. Winbush was hit on the left ankle by a Notre Dame helmet. X-rays were negative. Bowles suffered a left foot injury. Both are expected to return to practice today.
Even backup QB Dylen Smith, a 6-1, 190-pound junior from Santa Monica (Calif.) High and Santa Monica CC, could return as early as today after suffering a concussion at Notre Dame.
"But Dylen, I'm not as optimistic," Allen said. "He had some headaches (Tuesday)."
-- Andrew Hartsock's phone number is 832-7216. His e-mail address is ahartsock@ljworld.com.
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