Kansas defensive lineman Gage Keys (7) celebrates a third-down stop against Kansas State during the third quarter on Saturday Nov. 18, 2023 at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

Gage Keys knew he had made a mistake almost as soon as he arrived at Auburn.

The defensive tackle had just completed his second transfer, this time away from Kansas after starting his career back at Minnesota. KU had given Keys the first meaningful playing time of his career, in the form of 301 snaps on the defensive line, including three starts late in the 2023 season; he left for what he thought were greener pastures.

Instead he found himself in an environment he called “not as close, not caring.”

“I was missing the guys a lot here (at KU), I was missing the coaches a lot here, just the relationships, the little small jokes, things like that, that I just wasn’t getting those types of interactions every day,” Keys said. “It kind of put me in a little dark place, and I kind of had to navigate through it. Honestly, the past year was probably the hardest year of my life, just having to go through that.”

Auburn’s defensive coordinator when Keys committed, Ron Roberts, left for Florida a few weeks later; by February, defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett had also departed for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“And then the new coaches brought in their own guys,” he said. “Different things like that, having to deal with all those different struggles. At the moment it sucked, but now having that perspective, it’s kind of good to be able to move forward from that and be able to learn from all that different stuff.”

Keys has moved forward by moving back.

In the winter transfer window, he returned to Kansas, where it just so happened defensive tackles coach Jim Panagos, who has known Keys dating back to their time at Minnesota, had been looking to add another player on the interior, and his former Jayhawk teammates advocated for him.

“When I was leaving, I left on a good note with them guys,” Keys said. “I always have coached them up. Throughout the season, I would talk to the guys, watch their games and stuff, and just give them little pointers, things they could do better to help them have success at the end of the day. And so that was another reason, you know — just being able to help those guys out was a big reason for my purpose, trying to come back.”

So Panagos and Keys spoke on the phone and reached an understanding: Keys, after a misadventure of a year in which he played just 18 snaps in two games, would have to “start at ground zero,” he said.

“I was very direct with Gage,” Panagos recalled on Thursday. “I said, ‘Gage, you didn’t play football last season. You’re going to start at the bottom of the depth chart and you’re going to work.’ And all he has done here is work.”

Keys added: “I wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s a great room with a lot of competition. We’ve just been having fun embracing the process together.”

When Keys announced his return to KU in the transfer portal, he wrote on X, “My fault y’all … I was TRIPPIN.”

Keys reiterated that sentiment on Thursday, saying he had left KU in the first place because of “things that have to do with the new era of college football, NIL, things like that.”

“So being able to make the mistake of being materialistic in a way, making a decision that’d impact me and then realizing that life is not about those type of things as much, definitely was like a big learning (experience) for me,” he said, “and I’ve learned a lot really the last year, just being able to go through all that.”

Tommy Dunn Jr., who used to be Keys’ roommate on road trips during the prior stint at KU and was happy to see him return, said he had witnessed a different side of Keys.

“Gage is much more positive, optimistic,” Dunn said. “Even practice 11, he’s still smiling, getting guys up, making sure guys (are) on their stuff … He’s always looking out for people. That’s what I respect about Gage.”

From an on-field perspective, Keys had flashed great promise late in his first tenure at KU, including with a career-high five tackles in his final game on the road at Cincinnati.

However, Keys returns to a different kind of defensive tackle room than the one he left. For one thing, he has a new defensive coordinator in D.K. McDonald, whom KU hadn’t even hired yet as a position coach when Keys left. McDonald’s scheme includes some differences for defensive tackles, who are sometimes on the field three at a time.

“I like him a lot,” Keys said. “He’s very high-energy, he’s very direct.”

In addition, tackle is now one of the most experienced groups on the entire roster — in fact, Keys called it the deepest and most talented group he’s been a part of.

“Right now we have six guys that are competing for jobs,” Panagos said, “which is really, really a good thing.”

Redshirt sophomore Blake Herold has emerged as one of the most promising up-and-coming players on KU’s roster, and Dunn and D.J. Withers are looking to string together “a full season of straight domination,” as Dunn put it. Another redshirt senior, Kenean Caldwell, has continued to persevere in the face of limited playing time and put himself in the conversation. Finally, Herold’s classmate Marcus Calvin has put in a “simply amazing” amount of work, Panagos said, and is on track for a rotational role this season.

It’s a tough situation for anyone vying for playing time, but it’s nevertheless a positive one for Keys.

“I think he knows why we do things here,” Panagos said. “I think he knows how we care about the players. I think he knows the resources here, and I think he sees this is the place he wanted to be.”

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas defensive lineman Gage Keys takes on Calvin Clements in a drill during the Kansas Football Fan Appreciation Day Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Lawrence.