IKEM EKWONU HAS an uncanny ability to size up a man from the opposite side of the line of scrimmage and instantly decide how he’ll whip the guy. Perhaps it stems from his days as a high school wrestler, when each bout was a mano-a-mano showdown in which dominance must be established. That’s still Ekwonu’s mantra.
“Whoever is in front of me,” Ekwonu said, “I just want to bury him.”
Off the field, Ekwonu oozes joy from every pore in his body, but on it, there is only one objective.
What happens is, the ball is snapped and in the instant Ekwonu gets his hands on the rusher he senses the outcome: If he has leverage, things are going to end very badly for the man who has chosen a path to the football that goes through him.
“I can almost anticipate I’m going to pancake him,” Ekwonu said.
NC State awards a bottle of syrup for each pancake block its linemen deliver. Ekwonu basically has enough inventory to operate a chain of Waffle Houses.
There’s a play from Ekwonu’s sophomore year that his head coach, Dave Doeren, still keeps thinking about. NC State was playing Wake Forest and the Wolfpack ran a draw. Ekwonu hit the first defender at the line of scrimmage and absolutely leveled the guy. Buried him into turf. This is the type of block for which the burly left tackle has become known, the type that will make him a top NFL draft pick in a few weeks — maybe even the first overall selection.
But that’s not the special part. What really sets Ekwonu apart came next. Ekwonu calls them “money blocks.”
“I get in space, and then I kind of know,” he said. “That’s where I use my footwork and technique and knowledge of how to cut off angles, and you just know if this guy wants to make a play, he’s going to have to go through me. And he’s not doing that. If it’s between me and him and there’s a collision, I’m winning that.”
That’s what happened on that draw play against Wake Forest. Ekwonu left one man prone, burst beyond the line of scrimmage and delivered a second pancake block,…
Source : espn
