Tate Nagy making impact as true freshman in punt return
Before Tate Nagy made his debut as Kansas’ punt returner against Fresno State, he received a text with advice from Chiefs punt returner Nikko Remigio.
Nagy, son of Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, won the punt return job as a true freshman. His connection with the Chiefs allowed him to learn from Remigio and special teams coordinator Dave Toub.
“One guy I definitely have gotten a little bit of advice from and looked at is Nikko Remigio for the Chiefs,” Nagy said. “He’s a great returner. I mean, what he does when he catches the ball is super smooth. And then one other guy I get advice from is Coach Toub, special teams coordinator with the Chiefs too. He helped me out, his technique and all that kind of stuff. So they were good. That’s definitely two people that helped me out a lot.”
The true freshman cemented his spot as punt returner during fall camp. Lance Leipold said Nagy did an excellent job.
“He’s done an excellent job, you know, of making plays back there as far as tracking the ball, consistent catching,” Leipold said ahead of Kansas’ season opener. “Just like when he’s at receiver, he’s excellent at making the first guy miss and get the ball up the field.”
The former high school quarterback switched to wide receiver when he arrived at Kansas. Leipold mentioned punt returning during Nagy’s recruiting process, and Nagy was super excited when he won the job.
“In my recruiting process, Coach Leipold mentioned it to me about the punt returning, so I kind of knew they had an idea of that,” Nagy said. “But I was super excited when he came up to me and said I had the chance to do that.”
Nagy enjoying the switch to wide receiver
While Nagy said he’ll always miss playing quarterback, he’s enjoyed the switch to receiver. Nagy said it has helped him learn something new on a daily basis.
“It’s like every single day I learn something new, and I love learning the game of football,” Nagy said. “That’s one of my favorite things to do. And so every single day it’s like, literally, today I learned something. And it’s so cool to just be able to get better and better, like, every single day.”
Nagy saw his first game action at wide receiver in Kansas’ Week 1 win over Wagner, catching two passes for 20 yards. He said it was a cool experience to get out there with guys lower on the depth chart who have put in a lot of work in practice.
“Obviously you come here for wide receiver and so when you actually get to play and hop in that game, it was pretty cool,” Nagy said. “And then to get a couple catches too was awesome. So it was just great being out there and being with those guys because we practiced so much and to finally be able to have it pay off a little bit, it was pretty cool.”
