Ole Miss' Isaac Ukwu is 'not a fan anymore' as he prepares to play in his first SEC game
There are plenty of reasons for a player to enter the transfer portal and find a new team to play for these days but for Isaac Ukwu the decision to come to Ole Miss was the allure of playing in the Southeastern Conference.
The SEC has been the premier conference in college football with the domination of Alabama and now Georgia in recent years. It is not a hard sell for players when a SEC school comes calling once in the portal.
For Ukwu Ole Miss presented an opportunity to get in the SEC after starting his career in the FCS and James Madison. Now that the first three non-conference games are out of the way this week welcomes the No. 13 Crimson Tide (2-1) and a trip to Tuscaloosa.
These are the game weeks Ukwu envisioned himself playing in when he joined Ole Miss.
“I’m excited. I’ve been a fan of these type of games, SEC games, that I used to watch after my games early in my college career,” Ukwu said on Monday. “Now to be able to play in these games is really cool. I’m not a fan anymore. I’m actually in it. So, it’s going to be really nice and I’m going to treat it like any other game. But I’m definitely going to give it my all and go out there and play as best I can.”
Through Ukwu’s fandom he has watched plenty of games where Alabama is the top team in the country or one of the season-in-and-season-out. This year’s team, at the point of the year, does not have the same mystique around it as most Nick Saban-led Alabama teams do in September.
Despite the Tide’s struggles against Texas and South Florida the last two weeks it is not causing Ukwu to put the blinders on in this week’s preparation.
“At the end of the day ‘Bama’s ‘Bama,” Ukwu said. “No matter what’s going on. I know I’ve been a fan of college football for a while and I’ve seen seasons, like at the beginning of every season there’s always this, ‘Oh, is ‘Bama the same Bama? They lost all these (players), they lost all these.’ But then they still find a way to be who they are and who they have been over the the past couple decades.”
Ukwu and the Ole Miss defense found out on Monday which Alabama quarterback to prepare for.
Despite Saban using three different quarterbacks over the last two games he announced that Jalen Milroe is once again the starter against No. 15 Ole Miss (3-0).
Monday started with uncertainty and the need for the Ole Miss defense to plan around for either Milroe, Ty Simpson or Tyler Buchner. By lunch time Saban made the game planning a little bit easier for Uwku and defensive coordinator Pete Golding.
“When you have a running quarterback, now they have 10 blockers instead of usually it’ll be like nine,” Ukwu said. “Because the quarterback usually isn’t a part of it. That’s another person you have to account for, another person who can be blocking down field. When you can get a quarterback who can read defenses and throw the ball but then also run the ball it’s just a different aspect.”
