Lemmens: 'It felt great to get on a plane and feel sore'
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – As of this sentence construction, there is no known video evidence of Florida senior defensive end Duke Lemmens cruising around campus on his moped with teammate Justin Trattou in tow.
Not even YouTube has a clip.
Still, the scene is a fun one to imagine, more than 500 pounds of Gator defensive line cruising to class together on what has to be sturdy moped, Lemmens' self-proclaimed “Afro'' squeezing out from underneath his baseball cap.
Of course, it's no surprise to those around Lemmens regularly. His teammates know the free-spirited Lemmens is likely to say or do anything at anytime.
“He's a character out there,'' freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins said Monday. “He keeps everyone loose. He talks a lot [of trash] to us, just playing around.''
Known perhaps as much for his California attitude than what he's done on the field at Florida, Lemmens is doing his best to change that the past two games. In Saturday's 31-17 win at Tennessee, Lemmens was named the Gators' defensive player of the game after making a career-high five tackles and recording a sack.
With Florida using what coaches call its “heavy package'' on defense to try and contain Tennessee running back Tauren Poole, Lemmens lined up much of the game in a hybrid strong-side linebacker/defensive end position to create a bigger wall at the line.
The plan worked perfectly as Poole, the SEC's leading rusher entering the game, was limited to 23 yards on 10 carries.
Lemmens played an instrumental role, something he hopes to do more of as his career winds down.
“It felt great to get onto a plane and feel sore,'' Lemmens said. “You don't know how many times I've gotten onto a plane and felt completely fresh because I didn't play much. It was really a special feeling.''
Lemmens came to Florida from Oaks Christian in Westlake Village, Calif. During his time at Florida, his hair has grown considerably, but Lemmens played mostly in a reserve role until moving into the starting lineup this season.
While he stood out in the Tennessee game for playing a different position, Lemmens also made an impact the previous week in UF's 38-14 victory over USF. Lemmens had two tackles, helped pressure Bulls quarterback B.J. Daniels into an interception, and recovered a Demetris Murray fumble deep inside Florida's territory.
Not a bad day at the office, which is why Lemmens is starting to play more of a role.
“You want Duke Lemmens on the field,'' Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “He's high-energy. He brings a passion that every coach wants.''
Lemmens knows there is room for improvement. After getting back to campus and watching film of the Gators' win at Tennessee, Lemmens immediately saw something he wants to correct.
“If you watch the film, my footwork was pretty bad at linebacker, so I've got a lot of work to do,'' he said. “But it didn't feel too unnatural to me. I felt a lot more athletic not having my hand in the dirt.''
Jenkins, a linebacker who earned SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance at Tennessee, says Lemmens “is athletic enough to be a good linebacker.''
To prepare for his role in the Tennessee game, Lemmens worked a lot with linebackers coach D.J. Durkin. His regular position coach, defensive line coach Dan McCarney, looks at Lemmens' recent success as well-deserved.
“He is a joy to coach,'' McCarney said. “No one is having more fun playing football on our team than Duke Lemmens.''
Whether Lemmens will continue playing the hybrid role in the heavy package or get more snaps at his traditional spot on the defense line remains uncertain. Lemmens credited junior defensive tackle Jaye Howard with a lot of credit for his performance Saturday.
“Jaye is a hard guy to move,'' he said. “He can eat up a tackle and tight end pretty well and keep guys off the linebackers. I just think it adds an extra element to our defense against the run.''
Lemmens and the Gators' defense will try to make the same magic on Saturday when Kentucky visits The Swamp. The Wildcats are 3-0 and haven't beaten Florida in 23 years, a year longer than Lemmens has been alive.
Kentucky's offense now features the SEC's leading rusher in Derrick Locke, who is averaging 124 yards and game and 6.1 per carry.
Lemmens will try his best to play his usual role of team energizer, but he wants to be sore after the game like he was last week. That's how he'll know he really made a difference.
“I just keep showing up every day, bringing my lunch pail to work and go wherever they tell me to go,'' Lemmens said. “It's seeming to work out so far.''
