Ti20 Off the Boards: Defensive Lineman Wardalis Ducksworth

Tigers in 20: A Memphis Tigers Athletics podcast

5th year senior defensive lineman Wardalis Ducksworth joined GoTigers247 in this episode of Off the Boards.

Wardalis is one of the returning veteran defensive lineman from the Tigers' team last year, and he described how his role has changed with his seniority. He shares how fall training camp is different from previous years. He is fully concentrating on his own game and learning the new playbook and schemes, but he also carries the burden of leading the younger guys on the defensive line. He believes his job now consists of making sure the younger players are doing right in all the little things, such as eating, sleeping, training, and studying.

Wardalis shares about his journey to Memphis through the junior college ranks. Leaving high school as a 6'4, 175 lb defensive lineman, he joined Jones County Junior College where he played for two years. He described his time at Jones County as a necessary time for him to learn the "little things" about being a college football player. He left Jones County and came to Memphis as a 6'4, 200 lb defensive lineman in 2019. In the last three years, Wardalis has spent as much time with the training team at Memphis as he has the defensive line coach. During his time at Memphis he has gained 64 lbs of muscle and strength and has realized a lot of success on the field.

In the second segment, Wardalis talks about the new defense under Matt Barnes and how he is excited to see the defense be much more pressure oriented this year. He talks about his past as a basketball player and how the skills he learned on the hardwood has helped him with footwork and hand/eye coordination on the field.

To end the show, Kenny and Wardalis talk about Wardalis being named to the AFCA Good Works' Team. He explains why he feels so compelled to give back to the community and why it's so important to him. Wardalis shares specifically about an organization called "Be The Match", a bone marrow transplant matching organization that helps find bone marrow matches for people suffering with blood born diseases such as leukemia.

About Off the Boards:

Off the Boards is a video/audio segment where GT247 sits down with local and national sports figures.

Typically, Off the Boards has been a video segment, but we are now turning it into an audio podcast as well to better meet the needs of all of our followers. This new format will allow all of GT247's content to be more accessible to listeners.

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