Matt Elam?

By: LONNY DEMAREE



The question was asked of defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh on lookers expecting too much of Matt Elam? “You’ve got to understand it (Nose Tackle in the 3-4 defense) is not a glamorized position,” Brumbaugh said. “He controls the whole middle and he got two blocker on every play. The coach said last year he would let the center go and cross his feet and lose focus and that is the difference on a fifty run. On the double team he has 600-pounds coming at him every play and he has to eat up those blocks. “We know the value when he’s not in there. The question was asked of defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh on lookers expecting too In the NFL they only keep one guy like Matt.
“People that go up against Matt don’t realize how strong he is. He’s got grown man’s strength,” Brumbaugh stated. He accepts the fact he’s not a glamour guy “I told him the other day I don’t expect you to be in there on third down. I expect first and second down to be locked in and to stunt when we ask. Knowing your roll will help us more. You’ve got to be focused like an eagle. When he sees his prey he goes and gets it.”

“I see Matt becoming better fundamentally,” said D. J. Eliot. You know he is 6-foot-6 and really big. His weakness is he has to play lower – he is already high naturally. I saw him doing it better throughout the spring. Matt has things he can do better at but I think he certainly came along this spring.”

Denzel Ware: As a red shirt freshman glimpses of greatness was evident in the tenacious Ware. He had a minor bout with Injury that kept him off the freshman All-Sec team. Ware was highly recruited in high school coming out of Crestview, Florida. Ware littered up the stat-sheet in the spring game with fifteen tackles and four sacks and several hurry’s. “Ware came on strong the last three or four days of practice when he turned it on,” D. J. Eliot said. “He’s got a lot of ability, good size, fast, and can be a physical player at times. We’ve got to remember he was a freshman last year. Three more years with a lot of opportunity and he can be a great player. “I let it go and said to myself that if I mess it’s going to be full speed. I treated it like a game today,” Ware said. “I said when I got to UK I was going to tear up but I found out I wasn’t the best and it humbled me but I’m going to work to be the beat and at the same time bring my team along. With luck in the injury department, the making of a star and perhaps he will be on the team that breaks the streak of losses to his home state Florida Gators.