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.