Catching up with former Bulldog Matt Broha
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Matt Broha was a staple on the Louisiana Tech defensive line for four years and a Ruston resident for five. Broha signed an undrafted free-agent contract with the New York Giants following the 2012 NFL Draft and has been in New York for the last seven weeks training.
"[Being in New York] was a good time I was there for a little over seven weeks," Broha said. "I was there for a little rookie mini camp at first, then ten OTAs, then three days of vetrran minicmap. The first couple of days was kind of hectic because you are learning a huge playbook and trying to wrap your mind around this whole new defense. Then you go through these meetings and have to put what you learned in on the field. As far as practices go it's kind of the same as college practices, they aren't that hard but there was a lot of information they handed you that you had to relay to the field."
Broha had a good showing in New York with good feedback from his position coach Robert Nunn during his seven weeks in New York.
"We didn't get much feedback, but when I go into position meetings with my position coach, Robert Nunn, he corrects me a few times but says I'm doing a good job. It's a lot of good stuff but a lot of correcting and breaking bad habits."
Making the roster for undrafted free-agents is not easy, but the Giants did lose a defensive end who left for the Oakland Raiders in Dave Tollefson so that helps Broha's chances a bit. Broha says he will have to make the roster by way of his special teams play however.
Click Here to view this Link."Right now, as far as what we just went through I feel my chances of getting a roster spot are good. There is some good number of veterans in front of me but they need depth because they had some injures last year. One guy went to Oakland [Dave Tollefson] so that may help. My way to a roster spot is through special teams and making my way through there to get to the defense. I feel like if I do make plays through special teams I'll earn a roster spot."
Broha arrived back in his hometown of Baton Rouge and is training for training camp.
"I got here [Baton Rouge] on Saturday and this is my first week back. I'll be training with Mack Chuiloi at Traction in Baton Rouge for a couple weeks. Then go to Ruston and work with the team and do some drills with the team. So I'll be back and forth."
Broha spent five years in Ruston and says he misses life in a small town versus the hustle and bustle of New York City.
"Yeah, I definitely have missed Ruston. Just because it was my norm for the last five years so it was getting back to being at home. I also miss the smaller city compared to New York City. I kind of experienced the best of both worlds because Ruston is as low key of any town in Louisiana and New York was pretty crazy because it's the most populated city in the world but I enjoyed both of them."
During Broha's time in Ruston he went to two bowl games, played as a redshirt freshman, and starting the final three years on the field for Tech. Those experiences made an impact on Broha.
It was an interesting development for me, I started out playing as a redshirt freshman and learning from guys in front of me. I didnt realize what I was going to be doing as a starting defensive end. Then sophomore and junior year was when I really broke out with my sacks and stuff. Then my senior year was me refining my skills."
Refining his skill set as a defensive end has much to do with Tech defensive line coach Stan Eggen Broha believes.
"I can't say enough about Coach Eggen's ability to develop defensive linemen. He's been around guys for a while at every level in conferences and talent level. He's been around guys who didn't really have the ability to play at the level he was coaching but he was able to get them to play at that level. So, his ability to develop defensive linemen is great."
This season, Broha said he looks forward to seeing IK Enemkpali and Jelly or Justin Ellis. Also, he looks forward to seeing how the younger players mature like Kevin Kisseberth and Andre Taylor.