Rating:

4.0 (4 votes)

Three tackles against Louisville. Two were for a loss. One was a sack. Joker will take that everyday. Someday, this story will go away. But, undersized Luke McDermott is a walk on. Tough had to be his middle name.

"I really don't like when people think walk-ons can't play," says McDermott. "Whatever."

Luke is really proud that his friend Corey Peters gave him the nickname, Freaky Luke. When he gets a sack against Louisville, Peters who is with the Atlanta Falcons is on twitter happy for his guy.

Joker is the boss, but the boss listens to his coaches and then makes the final decision. That's normal. Truth is, even Joker was surprised when his Assistant Head Coach said, let's start this 280 pounder.

"Luke, I'm so proud of Luke," says Joker.

"And I'm proud of Coach Turner too. Because he's the guy who said Luke McDermott. I said you sure?"

That got a large laugh from the media.

But, there is nothing funny about Luke. He is trying to show True Blue Fans that he's for real.

"I graded out well," says the junior from Louisville.

"There was about four plays where I didn't do my job. And I got to get better on those. But, other than that, I did my job. I did everything the coaches asked me."

No one thought he'd play. Then, no one thought he'd ever become a starter. No one expects him to remain the starter.

There was a practice where Joker wanted Luke to take some time off the field because he was sore and banged up, but Luke didn't want to. Joker already loves this small defensive tackles heart. Looks like that is about to spread to True Blue Fans.