UK Football’s 6-foot-2, 245-pound junior defensive end/outside linebacker Denzil Ware was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week this afternoon. 

In the Wildcats’ 24-17 victory at Southern Miss, Ware finished with two fumble recoveries, a sack, a forced fumble and two tackles.

Ware’s play of the game was scoring a 20-yard touchdown off a fumble caused by junior safety Darius West, raising the Cats’ lead to 24-10. This critical play happened with under a minute left in the third quarter. This fumble recovery also turned out to be the first touchdown of Ware’s Kentucky career.

The remarkable defense the Wildcats demonstrated definitely aided in Saturday’s victory against the Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles were held to just 55 rushing yards on 38 carries, and the Wildcats forced three turnovers while recording eight tackles for loss and two sacks, including one of each by Ware.

Ware was named Preseason All-SEC second team by the league’s coaches and the media.

For Ware’s career, he has 111 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles under his belt. With doing all that on the defensive end in Hattiesburg, Ware can now add a defensive touchdown to his list of accomplishments.