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Brace: Rookie year was ‘humbling’ 05.26.10 at 2:25 pm ET
By Christopher Price
Patriots Camp Football

As a rookie, Ron Brace struggled to make the adjustment to life in the NFL. (AP)

FOXBORO — It’s been a long journey for Ron Brace.

“I’ve thought about it, actually — 365 days to the day I got here, I feel a lot better,” the defensive lineman said after Wednesday’s steamy OTA session on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. “I feel like a different player since I came here last season.”

By his own admission, Brace, a second-round pick out of Boston College in 2009, wasn’t ready for his rookie season with the Patriots. As a collegian, the 6-foot-3, 330-pounder was used to starting and contributing — with BC, he started 40 of his 49 games in college.

But as a rookie in New England, he was an inactive for seven games and a healthy scratch for an eighth.

He did make two starts toward the end of the season, but admitted Wednesday that as a rookie, he struggled with the mental aspect of life in the NFL, and pulled no punches when it came to assessing his play in 2009.

“There are a lot of people who are built for this game physically, but not a lot of them are made for it mentally,” he said. “I just had to get my mind up strong and catch up to everybody else, because they’ve played in this game for a long time. People coming from different colleges had their own ways of teaching players how to play.

“Before, I just had to know my gap. Now, I have to know what I’m doing, what my teammates doing, what my opponents doing. I had to put in a lot of work there. It was a real big shock right there. I have to pick it up.”

Brace described the year-long rookie process as “humbling.”

“For someone coming out straight out of college straight into the real world, you have this job where everybody’s yelling at you to do something and you don’t know what you’re doing and you basically have to catch on quick and catch up with the pack,” he said.

“It was kind of a humbling experience for me because I didn’t get to play. But it also opened my eyes to let me know there’s still work to do. You ain’t the big man around here anymore. There’s another big man. You’ve got to learn your role and fall in and just work on trying to excel.”

Brace said he leaned on his father for support, as well as veteran defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, who told him to, “Get in there and watch film. Learn your enemy.”

“My locker was right next to his and he was here in the offseason work program, and I was talking with him,” Brace said of Wilfork. “He was just letting me know there’s always something you need to learn. He was also one of the guys who said, ‘This is the path you need to take if you want to try and make it where you want to go.’”

Where does Brace want to go this year? Now, with a year in the system, he believes the sky is the limit.

“Basically, I just [want to] improve on anything and everything from last year,” he said. “Anything from last year that I did, I want to try and improve on it — film work, footwork, hands. My plays, knowing my opponents, learning their tendencies. Everything like that.

“A year under your belt helps a lot. Especially when you’re in the same system, I think it helps out a lot.”

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  • Deebo

    What’s with the knee braces,no pun intended, this guy always has? Kinda disconcerting to see…..

  • Dan

    From what I could see he never even got a chance to play.He should be getting in alot more as Woolfolk looked exhausted on alot of plays.But I think they are in for a great year they have alot of talent and the Jets have alot of guys with issues that they will have to deal with all year.

  • Goatman

    knee braces: Best way to stay healthy when you’re that big.

    Hopefully he’s not another Maroney.

  • Deebo

    Another Maroney? God help us…. He couldn’t be, though. Much more was expected of Florence when she came into the league than Brace. Would be nice to see him man-up this year and help out the line.

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