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Trevor Scott Leads Defense to Greatness

Trevor Scott

Scott has led the way for an attack-minded University at Buffalo defense over the last two seasons. Not bad for a guy who was recruited as a tight end and played the position for his first two years at UB.

Scott, a MAC Defensive Player of the Year candidate, has been terrorizing quarterbacks and is steadily ascending the UB record books in sacks. He was named to the watch list for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award.

“He is nonstop, 110 percent, giving it all on every single play,” said defensive ends coach Brian Mohnsen. Scott commented, “I consider myself a leader, and I believe that if I’m making plays, everyone else will get fired up off of my plays and they’re going to step up and make plays too.”

Scott’s love for football began when he was young. “I started playing in Pop Warner,” said Scott. “I had never thought about playing D1, but I made it.”

Scott originally came to the University at Buffalo in 2003 as a tight end, and played his freshman and sophomore seasons at the position.

In 2005, as Scott finished his sophomore campaign, a serious back injury took him out of the last four games and rendered him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season and part of winter training camp. The severity of Scott’s injury left him in the hands of his family and friends, and the time spent away from football and his teammates rekindled his motivation to be on the field.

“I’ve always been a motivated guy,” Scott said. “Just sitting around not being able to do anything really pushed me to get back out there as quick as I could. Sometimes you just go through the motions-- but not playing the game, missing the last three or four games; that really hurt.”

While his back healed cleanly and does not give him any trouble today, the motivation he got from the injury remains very strong and apparent in every play.

Head Coach Turner Gill was hired following the 2005 season and saw Scott’s potential on the defensive side of the ball and converted him to a defensive end.

The move paid immediate dividends as Scott amassed nine sacks in 2006 – tying the mark for the most by a player in Buffalo’s Division 1-A history. He also had a team-best 13.5 tackles for loss en route to earning the teams “U Believe” Award as the team’s best defensive linemen.

Scott’s favorite thing about playing defensive end is that; “you really make your own way. You can make your own plays.”

Scott has certainly made his own way, with nine sacks in the 2006 season, and on pace to surpass that total in 2007.

“Trevor is the leader of our position; the leader of the defensive line upfront, both verbally and by example” said Mohnsen.

So what is his next move? Scott plans to leave UB and “wants a shot at the next level,” he said. “I’d like to play anywhere really, whether it’s the NFL or CFL. I’ve been doing it for so long; it’s what I know.”

Scott plans to go out with a bang, and leave the program on the upswing. “We’re trying to win the MAC Championship; I think that it’s within our reach. We’ve definitely been thinking about it. We’re going to do our best, that’s for sure.”

The Bulls will take their next step towards a MAC Championship when it hosts Bowling Green on Saturday at 1:00 pm at UB Stadium.

Written by Lindsay Beckinghausen