Opportunity to make a name for yourself comes a little easier when you attend a nationally-recognized program such as Manatee. Whether it’s exposure coming from coaches showing up daily on campus, or it’s exposure from playing high-profile games in front of television audiences. Sometimes that hype-and-hoopla isn’t needed at all when you find yourself “exposed” in a different manner. The kind of exposure we are referring to isn’t with negative connotation. It’s an opportunity to become the leading player on a unit that’s going to be talked about back-and-forth around Bradenton and beyond. It’s opportunity to step into the light and help a team keep its insanely high expectations that have been set by themselves and their fans.
One such opportunity on the defensive side of the ball belongs to Garrett Ware. The 6-foot/210-pound outside linebacker hails from the Class of 2017 and will be asked to do more than just tackle. He’ll be asked to help make splash plays for the defense that are often the catalyst for the ‘Canes high-powered offense. He’ll be asked to continue to be an aggressive-but-disciplined player at the position that’s in the right spot with great consistency–something that he’s done already in 2015. He might even be asked to catch a few passes in conversions or to help throw a wrinkle into the offensive game plan and run some reps at tight end. Whatever the case may be, it’s Ware’s moment to shine.
55 tackles–38 solo–8 tackles for loss–interception, five passes defensed, fumble recovery and a fumble caused in 2015 for the 9-3 Hurricanes–Manatee went 1-2 in the first three games of the season, giving up an average of 31 points a game for a total of 101 points against. For the remaining nine games of the season–including the 40-points they gave up to Dr. Phillips in the playoffs, the ‘Canes surrendered just 108 points combined on defense.
Manatee as a team on the defensive side of the ball registered 120 tackles for loss, 14 QB hurries, 22 sacks, 11 interceptions, seven caused fumbles and three blocked punts. Although that’s the sign of a solid defense for sure, 97 of those 120 tackles for loss will need to be replaced due to graduation. Ware ended the season as the team’s fourth-leading tackler, but will enter the 2016 season as the top-tackler statistically remaining.
The ‘Canes will travel to Alabama in the regular season in ’16–just as they did to open up the 2015 season against Hoover. This time, it’s against one of Hoover district mates in Hewitt-Trussville High School. The Huskies are a member of Alabama’s largest classification (7A) finishing the season 6-5 last year and will have to replace a 1,400+ passer AND 1,400+ rusher on offense, but will return all of their leading receivers.
A comparison that Ware would like to develop into in terms of the linebacker position is that of Darius White–a member of the Class of 2012 that went off to Iowa State. Ware’s size is slightly under that of White’s, but only by twenty pounds and the two are virtually identical in height. Brown was a tackling machine his final two seasons for the ‘Canes and that’s something Ware will have to become to step up for the departures due to graduation.