When Huma went down with a sprained hip, an injury that greatly limited his impact the three games after the opener and kept him out of the next two, Nece moved in. Come the end of October--some 27 months after the car crash, one season after redshirting, about half a year after stepping up in weight class--he is an emerging star. He is first on the Bruins in tackles for a loss, second in tackles and sacks, sixth in passes broken up.
"I think the biggest thing that Ryan had to overcome was confidence within himself to play at the line of scrimmage against big guys," said Marc Dove, the inside linebacker coach. "I think he envisioned himself as a small, defensive-back type, and all of a sudden these coaches come to you and say, 'We think you can be a heck of a linebacker.' We make that move. We're trying to be supportive because we see all those possibilities."
