Aug. 21, 2010
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Kemal Ishmael is a coach's dream because of his rare combination of explosive power and dazzling speed and he is somewhat of a prodigy because of the way he thinks the game beyond his years and adapted to UCF's secondary schemes almost instantly.
But there is another reason that his is trusted to be UCF's last line of defense at free safety. Only the best of the best tacklers get that slot and it's perfect for arguably UCF's most underrated and underappreciated football player.
``Without a question, he's the guy you want back there making that tackle,'' UCF defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable said. ``He is a tremendous football player in all areas - toughness, understanding the game, technique. And he is a very sound tackler. I can't say enough good things about that guy because he is a special player.''
Special enough that UCF basically turned its secondary over to Ishmael by the fifth game of last season - a move that jump-started the Knights' late-season run toward the third bowl game in school history. In just seven games, Ishmael was so much of a sure tackler that he climbed to fourth on the team in total stops with 70.
Now a sophomore and the unquestioned leader of the secondary - even with freshman All-American Josh Robinson playing nearby - Ishmael is looking to make another big jump as a sophomore for the Knights. He said statistics and individual honors are meaningless to him if UCF isn't the best defense in Conference USA this season.
``It comes from me trying to be the best player that I can be every day,'' Ishmael said. ``Everybody sets goals of wanting to be the best athlete or the best at this, but I just focus on my job instead of worrying about getting this stat or those stats. Coach Hux has a lot of confidence in me and I just want to perform for him and do my job.''
Athletes have different ways of motivating themselves, and Ishmael's way is to trick his mind into thinking every day that he is in a fight for survival. A Miami product and North Miami Beach High School, Ishmael said competition on a daily basis in South Florida. He fought for everything that he has now and he's constantly pushing himself to not give an inch even though he made big gains as a freshman.
``I like that my spot is in jeopardy every time that I step on the field,'' Ishmael said with a seriousness in his eyes. ``It makes me perform better and makes me want to be better every day. I know that I can't ever slack off and lose my job.''
To hear Huxtable and head coach George O'Leary gush about Ishmael's production and enormous potential, there's little chance of him losing his starting spot at safety anytime soon. O'Leary was most upset last fall when Ishmael was left off the Conference USA All-Freshman team, calling the omission an egregious error.
Huxtable remembers Ishmael playing his way into the starting group the old-fashioned way - with sure-handed tackles, smart positioning on trick plays and a maturity well beyond his years as a true freshman.
``At the beginning of last year, he didn't play because (Derrick) Hallman was still at the safety position,'' Huxtable said. ``But Kemal just kept catching my eye every day in practice, doing all of the little things and making plays. I thought he had a great freshman year and I'm looking forward to him having a super sophomore season.''
Ishmael might have made all the plays and exuded the cool of a senior, but looking back on it now he was a jumble of nerves when UCF's coaches effectively turned the fate of the defense over to him as the team's starting free safety.
``I was real surprised they played me that early. I was real nervous out there because my first game was against Memphis and they had like 6-6 receivers,'' the 5-foot-11, 206-pound Ishmael said. ``Coach was just telling me that the freshmen were going to play and that we had to step up and be ready. I didn't want to be the one to hold my team back.''
Instead, he helped the Knights vault forward. UCF won six of its final eight regular season games with Ishmael as the starter, losing only to national runner-up Texas and in-state rival Miami.
Now, after boosting his bench press max to 375 pounds and his squat to 450 pounds after a solid summer in the weight room, Ishmael is poised to have a monster season at safety for the Knights.
``I'm not a guy who is going to ever look at the stats; I look at what I need to do to make everybody on this team better,'' Ishmael said. ``During the offseason, I was constantly getting in my playbook so I knew the defense so that I could make check downs and calls. I want to be a leader back there for us.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.