photo by: Kansas Athletics

Tate Nagy

Playing early is a rare opportunity for any college freshman, and even rarer is receiving pregame advice, prior to one’s collegiate debut, from an NFL player who plays the same position.

That’s exactly what Kansas’ Tate Nagy got in the form of a text from Kansas City Chiefs punt returner Nikko Remigio before KU played its season opener on Aug. 23.

Nagy has studied Remigio, who “catches the ball super smooth.” He’s also gotten technical tips from Kansas City’s 13th-year special teams coach, Dave Toub, who had seen him play in high school at Blue Valley West and wanted to help him out in preparation for his collegiate punt returning gig.

“I think it’s definitely a little bit of an advantage, because with those guys and what they give, all that advice, it’s up to you to take it,” Nagy said, “and so when you take it and then it pays off a little bit, it’s pretty sweet to see that in real life.”

He is, of course, the son of the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. But since debuting in that opener against Fresno State, he’s made a name for himself on the field early in his college career.

As part of a KU program that has only occasionally given extensive playing time to true freshmen under head coach Lance Leipold, Nagy — a converted quarterback who is all of 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds — staked his claim for the Jayhawks’ starting punt returner job during fall camp. He has rewarded KU early on with eight returns for 61 yards, including a 21-yard runback against Missouri the last time the Jayhawks took the field. (He also has one 34-yard kick return.)

“He’s caught the ball clean, made good decisions,” Leipold said on Aug. 29. “You can see he’s got the ability to make people miss.”

Last season, KU only returned eight punts the entire season for a total of 55 yards. Nagy has certainly brought an additional level of excitement to the return game — maybe even a little too much at some points as he tries to weave through much bigger and more experienced opponents.

“I told him a little bit there a couple times that I think he can probably cut one or two of those little moves out at the end,” Leipold said. “But you know, just like anyone, he’s trying to make something happen, and every time he’s back there and has the opportunity, he learns and he continues to get better for that.”

He’s had plenty to learn, including the wide receiver position in general. Nagy threw for more than 4,400 passing yards and 41 touchdowns, as well as ran for over 1,000 rushing yards with 10 touchdowns, during his career as a quarterback for the Jaguars. (He only returned punts as a sophomore, although he did serve as a punter himself as a junior.) However, he worked out at collegiate camps as a wideout and earned offers from KU, Kentucky and Ball State as a result.

“I’ll always miss quarterback,” Nagy admitted. “Quarterback is, I think, it’s a great position. I like having a little bit of the control. But wide receiver has been awesome. It’s like every single day, I learn something new. And I love learning the game of football. It’s one of my favorite things to do.”

He was also, as he put it, “super pumped up” when Leipold told him during his recruiting process that he could have a chance to return punts. But after he enrolled early in the spring, he was primarily focused on learning the ropes at wide receiver. During fall camp was when he and Keaton Kubecka set themselves apart as the top two punt-return options.

“That was really when it kind of showed,” Nagy said. “Me and Keaton back there, and a couple of the other guys, we were all just having fun, helping each other out, just trying to get everything down, and we just kind of went from there.”

Nagy ended up as one of just two true freshmen on the depth chart (the other is backup kicker Dane Efird) and certainly the only one to have played consistently in all three games thus far. He even got to catch a pair of passes at receiver against Wagner.

“We practice so much, and to finally be able to have it pay off a little bit was pretty cool,” he said.

He was asked on Tuesday if he was prepared to keep playing past the four-game limit over which a player cannot redshirt, and essentially said he’ll do whatever Leipold and wide receivers coach Terrence Samuel need: “I think we have a good connection here and (I’ll) just communicate with them at the end of the day.”

What Leipold, Samuel and analyst Kelton Copeland want from Nagy first and foremost is to actually catch the ball. So far, he’s done that successfully.

“So just catch it first, and then we always have a setup with where we want to return the ball,” Nagy said. “That doesn’t mean that’s where it might end up, but that’s usually where my first step will go, kind of like that. Shoot, I just run, try to find open space and we’ll go from there.”

Nagy acknowledged that he’s had to adjust to the faster pursuit speed of opposing defenders at the collegiate level. He said he now has to essentially make one cut and pick a direction to run. What comes next, as KU fans have seen through three games, can be a bit of an adventure.