D.K. McDonald says Oklahoma State has evolving offense
D.K. McDonald met with the media as Kansas’ defense looks to get back on track after two consecutive lopsided losses. The Jayhawks’ defensive coordinator previewed Oklahoma State’s “reinventing” offense, looked back at the struggles against Kansas State, and mentioned how execution has to improve.
McDonald digging deep into the archives on Oklahoma State
The Cowboys have tried pretty much everything at quarterback after Hauss Hejny went down with a season-ending injury. Zane Flores and converted wide receiver Sam Jackson V have gotten a bulk, with the two being listed with an OR in Oklahoma State’s depth chart for the starting spot.
McDonald said this week feels like an early season game because of the way Oklahoma State has been creative with its offense. He said the Cowboys have done a good job reinventing themselves.
“It kind of feels like one of those first-game type of things,” McDonald said. “Just because every week they’re reinventing themselves and they’re doing a good job with that. They’re being really creative. They’re doing a lot of creative things, but it’s different every game. And so you got to do a good job just having a base game plan and then being able to adjust from there from what you see.”
Interim head coach Doug Meacham started the year as Oklahoma State’s playcaller, but gave the duties to quarterbacks coach Kevin Johns two weeks ago. McDonald said there’s not a ton different from Meacham to Johns, but he has noticed some different philosophies.
“They’re still doing some of the things that [they did] before they switched play-callers,” McDonald said. “There’s not a whole bunch of things that you can change through a season, but there’s just different thoughts and different philosophies on calling plays, and you can definitely see that shining through as you continue to look at their games.”
Kansas struggled to defend deep ball against Kansas State
Avery Johnson finished with 231 passing yards on only 11 attempts for an average completion of 21 yards against Kansas last week. Johnson completed four deep passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. McDonald said Kansas has to do a better job defending the deep ball.
“We got to do a better job defending those as a unit, putting those guys in, you know, better positions maybe,” McDonald said. “And then, when it’s their time, they got to shine and they got to guard and, we got to continue to coach it in a better fashion to get those guys performing and get those balls down or intercept them or make them not be completions in the explosive plays.”
One of Johnson’s deep passes was a 78-yard touchdown to Jayce Brown to help the Wildcats ice the game. Austin Alexander was at the wrong end of the play, getting burnt over the top. McDonald said Alexander responded well over the course of the game along with a spirited practice on Tuesday.
“You got to take the information from the play and why it went wrong, but you can’t take the result with you, and that’s what we told him there,” McDonald said. “And it’s just an opportunity to bounce back. And he knows he’s got to have a great week of practice this week, and he knows there’s a bullseye on his back, and he’s going to have to be able to defend the first couple passes Oklahoma State throws his way.”
Better execution starts with coaching
Kansas’ defensive execution has been put under the microscope by McDonald and Lance Leipold throughout the season. There have been lapses in different areas, whether it be gap discipline, defending the deep ball, run fits, etc. McDonald said the process of evaluating the Jayhawks’ execution starts with looking at the coaching.
“The first thing you always want to look at is just how it’s being taught and what we’re emphasizing,” McDonald said. “It starts with coaching, and, we got to do a better job with that if something’s not getting done that we want to get done. And then after that is continuing just to boil things down and, just kind of put people in the right position, ask the right questions to get them to understand why it’s not getting done the way you might like to get it done.”
Coaches can prepare players as much as they’d like, but it ultimately comes down to players making plays. McDonald said 50-50 situations can happen, and the Jayhawks can only control what they’re able to.
“We just got to get better at the things we can control, which is the coaching, the preparation, the planning, and then getting out there on the practice field and doing the right things that we emphasize to get stuff done that we know we need to get done to win games,” McDonald said.
