When you mix pure athleticism and brute strength in a football player, you get a one man wrecking crew that opponents fear.  DeMarcus Ware fits this bill.  Growing up in Auburn, Alabama, Ware began to combine these potent attributes while at Auburn High School.  While at Auburn High, Ware lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track, but there was a growing sense that football was what brought out the best in him.  Despite only playing organized football one year, Ware received All-Area honors on top of being named the team’s Most Valuable Wide Receiver, Linebacker, and Leader after his senior year at Auburn High.  Despite an impressive senior season that consisted of 7 sacks and 55 solo tackles, DeMarcus went virtually unnoticed to area colleges.  One school that wisely recognized the gem that was wreaking havoc in Auburn, Alabama was Troy University.  After accepting a full scholarship to play football at the collegiate level with Troy University, Ware set out to build on his successful high school career.

At Troy, the Trojan coaching staff quickly decided that Ware’s abilities would be best suited at the defensive end position.  As a true freshman in 2001, Ware saw action in 8 games. He recorded two sacks and three tackles for loss.  In 2002 as a sophomore, Ware was moved into the starting lineup after Week One where he produced a personal career-high in tackles (72) and stops for losses (20).  He also added 13 quarterback pressures and 9 sacks.  After coming into his own during his sophomore campaign, Ware started every game at defensive end and recorded 62 tackles, a career-high 32 pressures, 16 tackles for losses, 6 sacks and a career-high 5 forced fumbles as a junior in 2003.  Also as a junior, Ware earned First Team All-Independent honors from ESPN and College Football News.  In his final collegiate season (2004), Ware carried the Trojans on his back as he amassed 53 tackles and a career-high 10.5 sacks.  Better yet, he helped the Trojans earn their first bowl appearance in school history, the Silicon Valley Football Classic.  After such an incredible senior season, Ware was named Third-Team All-America, First-Team All Sun-Belt team, the Sun-Belt Defensive Player of the Year and was also a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award (given annually to the nation’s top defensive end).  The onslaught that #94 inflicted on his opponents throughout his collegiate career paved the way for Ware to be the school’s all-time leader in tackles for losses (58) and second all-time for sacks (27.5).  Despite playing for a smaller Division-I school, the talent that DeMarcus possessed was too much for NFL executives to neglect.