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By: LARRY VAUGHT
Eli Brown feels the best he has in five years. Yet the Kentucky freshman linebacker wants to be redshirted, something not every player wants or accepts.
“We have great trainers here and that therapy and them pushing me has me feeling the best I ever have,” said Brown.
Brown was one of the top in-state players for Bowling Green High School last season, but he insisted from the time he committed to UK that he would be redshirted.
“I still feel like I want to go into a redshirt year. I still need to gain weight. I came in 195 and I am at 210 now, so it is a big jump. But I feel for my knee’s sake, even though it is good, that I am going to be running with guys about the same speed as me but twice my size and that will just beat my knee up again,” Brown said.
“So I will just take it slow and get feel for everything this year. I will be the best practice and scout player I can be and every practice will be like a Friday Night Lights game to me.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops says he leaves it up to players when it comes to redshirting.
“If they can help us, then we’re going to give them that opportunity to play. Also I’ll give them that opportunity if they say, ‘I need to redshirt; I want to redshirt. I want to get my feet on the ground academically; I want to get bigger,’” Stoops said. “He had to get his knee right — his knee is fine, but the strength in his leg and all those things. All along, we said, then we’re going to redshirt you.
“ He needs to redshirt and he’s going to put on some great size and strength. You saw great gains because we train those guys differently and they really make some good gains. But he really, even though he’s skinny, he looks good. He can move around. He’s a tall, good-looking player and I’ll be excited to get him on the field a year from now.”
Brown said he never realized how beat up he was during his prep career.
“I played both sides of the ball and every position and never really noticed how bad my body was feeling until I got h ere. Going through tests here helped me a lot. Now I know how to take care of my body,” Brown said. “I am eating more healthy and eating more and drinking more water. At workouts I am drinking like three bottles of water to stay hydrated and well. I never did that before.”
He also never spent a summer quite like the one he had in Lexington.
“Man, I didn’t think the school part would be like that. I thought the school part would be like ease breeze. But no, the school was something serious,” Brown said. “You had to be mentally tough and that made me stronger. It helped me a lot for the fall taking four classes. It was crazy. I had to wake up at 5:30, had a full load, would be on campus and then leaving CATS (the academic center) about 5 o’clock. So it was a long day.”
Brown knows the work — and redshirt year — will be worth it.
“We are going to be talented. We are going to shock a lot of people. Even for next year with a lot of people redshirting this year we are going to be good. Kentucky is bringing in some athletes. Coach Stoops is doing a great job,” Brown said. “Every linebacker has tried to help me. We are a family. Josh (Forrest) helped me out. I understand the playbook and if I have questions, I ask (defensive coordinator) coach (D.J.) Eliot and Josh and others. We are just a big, talented family.”
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