Sept. 8, 2003

By Kirk Phillips * Host Communications

For senior Nick Seitze, Kentucky football is an ever-changing world. In fact, the only thing that seems to stay the same is that Seitze remains in the center of it.Playing for his third head coach in his five years at UK, Seitze (6-5, 293) will once again be the man who truly gets the Wildcat offense started – often with a picture-perfect shotgun snap. Today, the Converse, Texas, native will be making his 20th consecutive start at center for the Wildcats.

The opening to his senior season, however, was not just more of the same-old thing for Seitze. After beginning his career with coach Hal Mumme and then spending two seasons under the guidance of coach Guy Morriss, Seitze started his final campaign with the Wildcats under new head coach Rich Brooks.

“It’s tough,” Seitze said. “You learn one way and get set in your way, then you need to completely change the way you approach things. It’s always better to get the repetitions and feel more comfortable with what you are doing. Time makes everything better and three different offenses in three or four years is difficult.”

That’s not to say Seitze is having a difficult time with the transition. In fact, while many players naturally resist change during their senior season, Seitze is embracing his opportunity to expand his football IQ under the guidance of new offensive coordinator Ron Hudson, the mastermind of the explosive Kansas State offense since 1997.

“With a new coaching staff, you just have to have an open mind to new things,” Seitze said. “It’s never easy, even if you have been through it before. I really like to look at the positive side of everything. The positive side of the changes we have had here is that I now know three different offenses and three different ways to look at things. I truly believe it makes me a more knowledgeable player. I look at it as a big advantage and something that will make me more diverse than most coming out of college.

“In some ways this is the most complex system I’ve ever been involved with but, in others, it is the simplest. A lot of what we do is different. Coach (Ron) Hud-son’s philosophy is different. But once you get in that mindset, it is the simplest offense I’ve worked in. It’s really just a change in thought process and it’s amazing what you can do once you learn it.”When change occurs in a college program, it is inevitable that the experienced units will be counted on heavily during the transition period. This season at Ken-tucky, the experienced unit is the Seitze-led offensive line. The combination of junior left tackle Matt Huff, junior left guard Jason Rollins, Seitze, senior right guard Sylvester Miller and senior right tackle Antonio Hall returns intact from last season and has a total of 86 career starts.

“That’s been one of the hardest things this year is the pressure and the expectations that have been placed on the offensive line because of our experience,” Seitze said. “We are the most experienced unit on the team and we are expected to perform that way. The coaches expect it, the fans expect it and we expect it out of ourselves. It’s some pressure but I think it is pressure that has helped to motivate us.”

Added to that pressure is the responsibility that simply comes with the position. As the center, Seitze is looked at as the quarterback of the offensive line. Prior to each snap, it is his responsibility to understand what the opposition intends to do at the line of scrimmage and pass that information along to his linemates and his quarterback, senior Jared Lorenzen.”As a center, I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders,” Seitze said. “I really feel that it is a big part of my job to take some of the pressure off of Jared by reading everything that is going on in the box. I need to recognize the defense, the coverage and everything that the defense is going to try and do. If I can do that, that will leave Jared to concentrate down the field and only worry about the things that he needs to do. I try to keep Jared calm and work together to read things.”

That working relationship between Seitze and Lorenzen extends far beyond a simple exchange at the start of each play. As members of the same recruiting class in the fall of 1999, the two became fast friends who have helped each other to succeed on the football field and beyond.”I’ve said that from day one, the quarterback-center relationship needs to be strong on the field and off,” Seitze said. “On the field, he needs to have blind faith in me and all of us up front. We need to make sure he is comfortable and that he is never on the ground. Off the field is probably more important. Jared and I have always been close. I want him to know that I will be there for him whenever he needs someone.

“I was there when they brought Taylor (Lorenzen’s daughter) home. I got to hold her and that’s something I will never forget. I feel I like I’m a part of their family and they are a part of mine. Jared is always going to be one of the first people to know when something happens in my life. Those are the things that are important and I think all of that carries over to the football field.”

Coming out of high school, Seitze selected Kentucky over the likes of Texas A&M, Colorado and Iowa, largely because the Wildcats and then-head coach Mumme offered him an opportunity to start his career on the defensive side of the football. A two-way star at Judson (Texas) High School, Seitze believed his future was as a defensive tackle.

“Throughout high school, people always told me that I had the makeup of a defensive lineman and I guess I just got that stuck in my head,” Seitze said. “Kentucky was really the only school that recruited me as a defensive lineman and that was probably the biggest reason I had for coming here.”

After appearing in all 11 games as a defensive lineman during his redshirt freshman season of 2000, Seitze underwent his first coaching change when Morriss replaced Mumme following that season.

During the following spring, Seitze began his transformation to offensive lineman following a conversation with his new head coach.

“I don’t think he knew that I had played offensive line before until one of the other coaches told him that spring,” Seitze said. “He just came over to me one day and said ‘I hear you’ve played some O-line.’ The rest, I guess, is history.

“Coach didn’t really have to sell me on the move. I guess I just realized it was the best thing to do. I knew we had some very athletic players coming in on the defensive line and that maybe I wasn’t really a defensive line type. I always had it in the back of my head that, if defense didn’t work out, I could move over to some spot on the offensive line. That spring before my sophomore year just turned out to be the right time.”

Seitze spent the rest of that spring practice splitting time between the offensive and defensive lines before making the switch permanent the next fall.

After seeing time as a reserve in four of the first five games of the 2001 season, Seitze was moved into the starting role when senior Nolan DeVaughn was injured. Seitze started the final six games of his sophomore season and has not missed a start since, despite an ankle injury that hindered him throughout the 2002 campaign.

“I take pride in being out there when my team needs me,” Seitze said. “I love to play the game and I want my teammates to be able to depend on me. If I can play, I will play.”

With the end of his collegiate career on the horizon, Seitze has already begun preparing for his life beyond the University of Kentucky. He re-mains hopeful that his future will continue to include the sport that he loves.

“Like everybody at this level, I want to see how far I can go in this sport,” said Seitze, who has been named to the preseason watch list for the Dave Rimington Award, emblematic of the nation’s top center. “I want to see what will happen as far as the next level but I’m prepared for whatever. If it doesn’t work out, I won’t be disappointed, because I have so many things that I want to do. I know football won’t last forever and I’ve been preparing for that. There is just so much I want to do outside of football.”

Topping that list is a career as a restaurateur. The nutrition and food science/hospitality management and tourism major certainly sees himself dedicating his life to the things that he loves and among his plans are to someday develop and open his own franchise of restaurants.”People in the service industry and sports are not that much different in terms of personality and work ethic,” Seitze said. “In both you have to work with and learn to cope with people that are different from you and you have an opportunity to start at the bottom and work your way up to the top in a short amount of time. I know that I will work hard at whatever I end up doing and I believe that everything will work out for the best.”