This KU coach’s offense has made him a QB whisperer: ‘It’s just like playing poker’
Ty Reasnor turned on the college football game last October, but he did so with trepidation.
Sure, he had some faith in his former offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon, who was taking over Kansas’ offense midway through the season following a bye week.
Still ... Dearmon was about to face the 15th-ranked Texas Longhorns. In Austin. And he’d only had a week to put his style of offense in place.
“I was sitting there going, ‘Holy crap,’” Reasnor said. “It was like, ‘What did he get himself into?’”
That anxiety soon faded away.
As Reasnor settled in to watch KU’s offense, he noticed it looked awfully familiar. Reasnor, who’d spent his last two seasons with Dearmon as quarterback at Division II Arkansas Tech, saw the run-pass option plays. He recognized the combination of skinny post and whip route that KU ran to perfection.
And he also started anticipating the next plays that were coming — correctly — all from his house in Oklahoma.
“I ran them all myself,” Reasnor said with a laugh. “It was just kind of funny to see it on the big stage.”
The rest of the college football world was not as prepared for what happened over the next four hours.
KU — in front of 97,137 road fans — racked up 569 yards of offense and 27 first downs. The Jayhawks scored 24 in the fourth quarter alone, and their 48 points in an eventual 50-48 loss were the most scored against Texas by any team in three seasons.
Meanwhile, KU quarterback Carter Stanley — a five-year program player who’d been an on-again-off-again starter — threw for 310 yards, rushed for 65 more and also had four passing touchdowns.
Reasnor understood how that type of production was possible. He was one of three quarterbacks at Arkansas Tech that, under Dearmon’s tutelage, earned all-conference honors.
So while KU prepares for an upcoming 2020 season with unproven players at quarterback, one main question lingers: Can Dearmon, by himself, elevate play from that position like he has in the past?
His previous protégés, at the very least, seem to believe that he can.
How he prepares QBs
Carter Stanley had five quarterback coaches at KU before Brent Dearmon, but none had asked him to do a pregame routine like this.
The night before each game, Stanley was tasked with a football creative thinking session. He was told to write down how he saw the first 20 plays going, visualizing a script based on circumstances that could happen.
An example: First and 10, right hash, 25-yard line, trips left, zone run right, gain of six
That would start the brainstorming. OK, now it’s second and 4 from the 31 on the left-center hash. What plays might KU run then?
Or, most importantly, what would Dearmon do in this situation?
“It’s a really cool way to have you think as a coach,” Stanley said.
That wasn’t the only new preparation technique implemented by Dearmon last season.
Two hours before the Texas game, Stanley — still in his pregame suit and tie — joined Dearmon and the other quarterbacks on the field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, with the offensive coordinator stopping at each five-yard increment to discuss the specific playcalls KU had prepared for this particular spot. The same thing followed in future weeks as well.
“We just walk through it and visualize it,” Stanley said. “Attention to detail is definitely there.”
It’s also part of Dearmon’s bigger plan, according to Reasnor, who threw for 2,486 yards and was second-team all-conference for Arkansas Tech in 2017.
The KU offensive coordinator doesn’t just want his starting QB to execute what he’s told; he wants him to see things how he does.
That process started for Reasnor when he first transferred to Arkansas Tech. He said he and Dearmon — similar in their serious-about-work personality types — would often share five-plus-hour film sessions, with Dearmon trying to throw all potential scenarios at his future quarterback.
Slowly but surely, that started to pay dividends. Reasnor started seeing the game from a different perspective, envisioning the field as if he was sitting in the press box. He also was diagnosing things like a defensive coordinator in real-time, understanding defender run assignments and also where open space was about to develop.
In other words ... he was becoming a mini-Dearmon.
“He could put me in situations, and it was like him playing PlayStation,” Reasnor said. “It was kind of like him thinking through me.”
‘It’s just like playing poker’
That led to some fun on the field.
After certain drives, Reasnor said he’d come back to the sideline where he and Dearmon would laugh about an adjustment the defense was making; the two had expected it, prepared for it and were already prepared to counter it.
Other times, Arkansas Tech would line up in formations and Dearmon wouldn’t call a play; he and Reasnor thought enough alike, the quarterback would wait to let the defense line up, then would call something on his own in the framework of the offense.
It all was part of the philosophy of Dearmon’s run-pass option scheme: Always provide yourself with answers for any circumstance.
“It’s just like playing poker. It makes the other person show their hand — his offense does. And he’s able to react,” Reasnor said. “We react to you, and you don’t react to us.”
The real magic can happen, though, right after a play is completed.
Both Reasnor and Stanley both said there were times when they’d turn to Dearmon with a particular play in mind based on the down and distance. Sure enough, a second later, he’d signal that exact call.
“That’s pretty cool,” Stanley said. “Like, ‘We’re thinking on the same page there.’”
It’s one of the reasons Reasnor believes arm strength and pure ability isn’t what’s needed most to play quarterback for Dearmon.
More than anything, he says, the coach needs someone who can process information quickly. Reasnor estimated that 70% of playing for Dearmon was the ability to think on one’s feet.
“It’s not always the most talented guy that’s going to make a team win,” Reasnor said. “It’s whatever guy he can trust, and know that when he puts you in these situations, he’s got confidence in your ability to read and react.”
Will it work in 2020?
So what are realistic expectations for this year’s KU quarterback, whoever it is?
For now, the situation remains fluid; KU coach Les Miles refused to name a starter between senior Thomas MacVittie and junior Miles Kendrick in his final media session before game week, leaving some mystery with the position as KU prepares to open against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 12.
Stanley’s optimism for the offense, though, comes from working alongside those quarterbacks ... and also Dearmon. In his five years at KU, Stanley said he felt like he played his best during the final six games last season when Dearmon was in charge of the offense.
“I’m really excited to watch those guys,” Stanley said. “I think as long as they follow the rules and the guidelines of the offense, it really should take care of itself.”
Stanley also sees hope in KU’s current passing game setup; he said receivers coach Emmett Jones — “seriously one of the best coaches I’ve had there in five years,” Stanley said — was an important collaborator with Dearmon as they put together schemes.
As much as anything, he knows the comfort level he had last season. Dearmon would be roaring on the sideline when Stanley made a huge play, yet was composed and calm when he made a mistake.
As a result, Stanley said he felt the loosest he’d been at KU last season ... while also the most prepared.
“He lightened the mood, but he’s got people locked in,” Stanley said. “I think he’s just a great leader overall.”
Reasnor, who calls Dearmon “pretty elite” with X’s and O’s, has seen him adapt well to challenging spots before. He’s previously seen a coach whose strength was bonding with players while also finding a way to bring out the best in them.
Case in point: Reasnor remembers a few teammates who hadn’t gotten along with previous coaches. Dearmon, once arriving, turned those guys into productive players.
“I give credit to coach Dearmon for everything we did,” Reasnor said. “He helped us out so much.”
Perhaps that Texas game was just the beginning. Reasnor sees potential in Dearmon to be a Power Five head coach one day, and that confidence was only solidified after watching KU against the Longhorns.
Dearmon’s offense, it turns out, was more than ready for the big stage.
“If the quarterback buys in, the offensive guys buy in,” Reasnor said, “his stuff works.”
