If Preston wants to stop University senior Ben Gribble this Friday, they might want to bring a kennel with them on the team bus.
“Every game in the huddle, I tell the team we’ve got to play like dogs,” he said. “That’s the kind of attitude that I have when I line up on defense.”
The stout lineman has anchored the Hawks defense throughout the season, notching 74 tackles – 15 of them for a loss – and eight sacks. Those are numbers good enough to lead UHS in all three statistical categories.
“He’s physically our leader on the defense. He’s our nose guard. How he goes, we go,” Hawks coach John Kelley said. “He sets the pace for us.”
In spite of his role on the team, there’s nothing incredibly complex or special about how Gribble approaches the game. In fact, his M.O. is about as simple as one can get.
“I’m not going to let just one man beat me,” he said.
Of course, that means that Gribble often faces a pair of blockers bearing down at him instead of just one. But as his statistics indicate, he often doesn’t let two men beat him, either.
“For the most part he’s getting double teamed every time. Its a real tribute to his skill that he’s getting all those tackles for a loss while getting doubled,” Kelley said. “It’s not something we expect from his position but it’s something we can get from him.”
That play-making ability in crunch time is one of the many reasons the staff loves having Gribble around, and he understands the crucial role it plays in keeping the defense playing as it does.
“When I make a big play one-on-one or get a big sack, it gets the attitude up for the whole defense. It just makes our defense click,” Gribble said.
Said Kelly: “If he gets one or two of those a series, that can put the defense in a third and long situation, and that’s real good for us”
Granted, the responsibility that comes with that talent isn’t quite easy to handle. It’s not just the double teams and extra attention in the scouting report, either – sometimes Gribble’s ability to make that big play at the right time can be the difference between a win and loss.
“It’s a bunch of weight on your shoulders. Say its third-and-long and your opponent is on your 20 yard-line and they’re about to score. If they score, that could be it, the game could be over,” Gribble said. “The defensive coaches and Coach Kelley, they rely on me to make those plays.”
Most of the time though, that isn’t an issue for Gribble. He said it just motivates him to play that much harder.
“I know Coach [Tony] Richardson, he can make a bad lineman play like an all-star based on the way he hypes you up,” Gribble said. “He’s a big part of why I can do what I do. He knows how to do his job.”
Still, none of this surprise Kelley – not the on-field attitude, the adept skill at making plays and disrupting offenses, or the capacity to withstand pressure. That’s all just another day working with Gribble.
“He’s been that way all the years he’s played. He’s a weight room warrior, and he’s very physical,” Kelley said. “He’s a quiet leader, but he’s without a doubt the strongest guy on our team.”
