Participated in the inaugural Raycom College Football All-Star Classic following his senior season ...

2012: Played in every game with six starts at nose tackle ... 7th on team with 6.5 TFLs ... Also posted 34 total tackles and 2.0 sacks ... Helped Ole Miss lead all SEC teams and rank fourth in the nation in TFLs (7.9/game) and rank second in the SEC and 11th nationally in sacks (2.9/game) ... Earned second letter ...
vs. UTEP (9/8): Recorded three tackles (one solo) with 2.0 TFLs and his first career sack ...
vs. #12 Texas (9/15): Made first career start and recorded a tackle ...
at Tulane (9/22): Posted two stops (one solo) ...
at #1 Alabama (9/29): Tallied two assisted tackles ...
vs. Texas A&M (10/6): Assisted on a pair of tackles ...
vs. Auburn (10/13): Made two tackles, including a sack ...
at Arkansas (10/27): Posted two stops ...
at #6 Georgia (11/3): Made six tackles (two solo) in a start ...
vs. Vanderbilt (11/10): Made two assisted tackles in a start ...
at #7 LSU (11/17): Posted two tackles (one solo) including 1.5 TFLs for four yards ...
vs. #24 Mississippi State (11/24): Tied his career high with six tackles (three solo), including a TFL, in start ...
BBVA Compass Bowl vs. Pitt (1/5): Had a career-high four solo tackles, including 1.0 TFL, and two QB hurries in start ...

2011: Played in 10 games ... Posted 11 total tackles, including 1.0 TFL ... Earned first letter ...
vs. BYU (9/3): Saw his first action as a Rebel ...
at Vanderbilt (9/17): Posted three tackles (one solo) ...
vs. Louisiana Tech (11/12): Made one solo tackle ...
vs. LSU (11/19): Posted three tackles (one solo) ... at Mississippi State (11/26): Recorded a career-high four tackles (two solo), including 1.0 TFL ...

Spring 2011: Transferred to Ole Miss in January and joined the team for spring drills ... Tallied two tackles in the Grove Bowl ...

JUNIOR COLLEGE: Earned first team All-Northeast Conference honors after posting 41 tackles, 17.0 TFLs and 5.0 QB sacks for ASA in 2010 ... Helped lead ASA to a 7-3 record last season and the Northeast Conference Championship game ... Coached in junior college by Dennis Orlando ...

HIGH SCHOOL: Attended Saunders High School in Yonkers, N.Y. ... Participated in the New York/New Jersey High School All-Star Game ... PERSONAL: Son of Susan Cruz and Johny Pena ... Born: Nov. 15, 1986 ... Majoring in Criminal Justice.

While the start of Thursday’s NFL draft represents the continuation of many players’ careers, it marks the end of even more.

Only 253 players will be drafted, forcing many to continue life without football.

NFL prospect Gilbert Pena already knows that feeling. At the age of 18 the Yonkers’ resident chose family over football.

Pena walked away from the game for four years to work full-time to help his mother, Susan Cruz, who had thyroid cancer.

“It showed me the mature part of life and growing up and being an adult,” said Pena, 26, of his time away from football. “I feel like it helped me. I’m a lot more mature than a guy that just graduated college.”

Pena, a 6-foot-4 317-pound defensive tackle at Mississippi, who is projected to go in the seventh round or as a preferred free agent, worked as a cook and a manager of a plumbing and heating supply warehouse.

Despite earning all-section honors and receiving recruiting letters as a senior at Saunders, Pena’s top priority was his mother’s health.

“Me staying and helping my mom out was my number one concern,” Pena said. “I was like, hey if (football) happens it happens. I knew that I needed my mom in my life.”

In the fall of 2009, with the improvement of his mother’s health, Pena enrolled at ASA junior college in Brooklyn and joined the football team. It was there coach Dennis Orlando convinced Pena his size and talent meant he could potentially play in the NFL.

Lighter, faster Gilbert Pena ready for big year with Ole Miss football team 

By Ron Higgins

Monday, August 13, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss senior defensive tackle Gilbert Pena's formula for earning increased playing time this football season sounds confusing, but it isn't.

The less you see of him, the more you'll see of him.

Measuring 6-2, 320 pounds, Pena still isn't exactly a world-class ballerina. But considering he's dropped 20 pounds from the time he stepped on campus in January 2011 as a junior college transfer, Pena suddenly has newfound quickness and energy that he is putting to effective use in the Rebels' preseason work.

"He's shown up ready to play almost every practice," coach Hugh Freeze said of Pena, who has consistently drawn double-team blocking in early practices. "He's trimmed down and definitely has a quicker twitch and more explosion."

It's all because Pena discovered you can actually eat lettuce separate from sticking it on a triple-stack hamburger.

"I definitely feel like I'm getting off the line faster and getting to the ball faster," said Pena, who had 11 tackles in 10 games last season after the Yonkers, N.Y., native transferred to Ole Miss from ASA College in Brooklyn. "I can take a lot more reps. Last year at this time, I was having trouble."

Pena's weight woes last season were self-induced, but more from his lack of understanding what is required to survive and thrive in the Southeastern Conference.

When Pena finished his 2010 junior college season as a first-team Northeast All-Conference selection, he weighed 315 pounds. Because he never watched much college football on TV — "That sounds crazy since I play football but that's the truth," Pena said — he naively assumed he needed to gain weight before he reported to any of the major colleges recruiting him.

So in the one-month period from the time Pena's JC season ended, to the moment he reported to Ole Miss, he gained 25 pounds after being wined and dined on recruiting visits.

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Originally Posted by: Pack93z