Stadium announcers know him as Kenneth Lee. The Ball State junior linebacker prefers a less proper approach.
"It's Kenny," he said following Ball State's Wednesday practice.
By name and by life, Lee is a simple person in a complex situation.
Ball State's current starting strong-side linebacker is an Indianapolis native from Lawrence Central High School. He transferred to Ball State after playing at Division II St. Joseph's College [Renneselaer, Ind.], forcing him to sit out the 2011 season as a redshirt.
Now in 2012, Lee is free from his redshirt handcuffs. And once former Ball State linebacker Aaron Morris was suspended from the team last January due to academic deficiencies, it put Lee in the perfect situation to earn immediate playing time.
But long before then, Lee knew he would have a spot on the field this fall.
"No offense to anybody this year right now or Aaron, but last year when I was redshirting, I knew this season, to me, I'm gonna play," he said.
And so far, Lee has played, starting the first two games of season.
That changed slightly against Indiana on Saturday. He had his role scaled back, playing only about 45 snaps a week after playing about 70 against Clemson. Lee said that was due to conditioning.
"My legs weren't under me yet," he said. "To get my game legs back, it took me about a week. ... [The coaches] saw it and took a little off my plate."
That could only be a portion of the reason Lee has lost snaps. The coaches are also waiting on him to show more tenacity on the field.
"The main thing with Kenny is consistency and playing with toughness," Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jay Bateman said. "With linebacker, it's a physical war every play. He just hasn't quite got to that point where every single play he's as hard and as physical as he can be. And that's what we're trying to work with him on right now."
Bateman thinks as highly of Lee as anyone, however, saying "I don't think he's reached anywhere close to his ability yet so far."
It's a bold statement, considering Lee currently has the second most tackles on defense, with 24. He also is tied for the team-lead in tackles for a loss with three and has recorded one sack and one broken up pass.
The coaches say one thing. The numbers say another. And it's created a complex situation for Lee.
But the development will come in time. For now, Lee is enjoying his first live football experiences in nearly two year.
His built up emotions exploded out of him in the team's first defensive snap against Eastern Michigan in the season opener.
It was a simple play. And it was all Lee needed.
"I was lined up opposite of where they even ran the play, and I was so in, I ran a blitz all the way back across the side of the field," he said. "The guy got tackled, [and] I jumped over a guy and onto the pile. [I] just got up, pumping the crowd up. It was a great feeling to get back out there.
"I had to hit someone."
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