Last week against UNLV Tommy Dunn Jr. graded out as the second best defensive player of the game. The defensive tackle has put together a good start to the season and is ranked in the top four players on the PFF season grade card.
His early season success can be traced back to spring football when he met with the coaching staff and was told what he needed to work on.
“I talked to the whole coaching staff,” Dunn said. “We were having our meeting and that was one of my biggest things I needed to work on being more consistent. That's why I try to do it every play in practice, so I trust for game day. So, just being more consistent is one of my biggest enemies that I'm trying to overcome.”
On Tuesday defensive coordinator Brian Borland said Dunn had gone throughs ups and downs before getting to the level of consistency he has been playing.
The word that rang with Dunn was “inconsistent” and he used it as motivation in the offseason after the meeting with the coaches.
“In the spring, they told me ‘Your inconsistent’”, Dunn recalled. “And I wrote it down and I looked at it every morning I wake up. You know what I'm saying? Me versus me, try to beat myself.”
Dunn started to show signs in fall camp of bringing out his full potential. Defensive tackles Jim Panagos said his success can be attributed to what he did on and off the field.
“He's just playing really fast and getting great knockback with separation,” Panagos said in fall camp. “And once again, you make a couple plays and you start stacking days after days and days and you have confidence. Football is a game of confidence, and right now, Tommy's playing with high confidence also.
“He's doing all the right things off the field. Great GPA this spring and summer of 4.0. I've said to you guys over a long time as long as Tommy Dunn handles off the field things correctly, his on the game field will keep producing at a really, really high level.”
Dunn’s play has been recognized by the coaches and players. His performances against UNLV and Illinois have earned him awards among the best defensive players.
“Tommy Dunn's been one of our defensive players of the week for the last couple weeks,” Borland said. “He's played really well and he's practicing well. He's really taken to some of the details of coaching and the way they're supposed to be done, and he's doing it. You know, he's a big dude. He's extremely strong. He's quick and a good athlete, and so again, he's really leveled out his game.”
Dunn also attributed his play on the field to trimming down his body fat from 31 percent to 27. That was also a part of meeting the coaches in the spring.
“I made an emphasis of changing that too to get down,” he said. “Now, that I'm down, I feel a lot better. I move a lot better as you can see, getting off the ball, moving quicker. It was a huge jump for sure.”
When West Virginia head coach Neal Brown was asked in his press conference what stood out about Kansas, he mentioned Dunn as the first player on defense.
“It means a lot,” Dunn said. “You know what I'm saying? People are starting to recognize me now. I just got to keep going and just keep stacking on weeks over and over so I can actually get the All-Big 12 thing.”
