On Signing Day, West Meck offensive lineman takes unusual, difficult road to the Big 10
West Mecklenburg High football coach Nick Mata thinks that senior offensive lineman Delmar Glaze has a real chance to become a professional football player one day. First, Glaze will sign with Maryland of the Big 10 Wednesday during the NCAA’s early-signing period.
But there was a time when Mata wasn’t sure Glaze would ever play a down of high school ball.
“He’s come through a lot,” Mata said Tuesday. “A whole lot.”
Glaze, 17, played five games his freshman season before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He missed his sophomore season doing rehabilitation.
So, the first game of his junior season, Glaze went out to block for a screen pass. As he planted, a defensive back flew past him, going low. Glaze tried to turn to get the block. Unfortunately, his foot stayed locked in the ground.
“My leg kind of gave way,” he said. “I kind of knew what it was, because it felt similar to what I’d done before. I was hoping I just tweaked it.”
But a few weeks later, an MRI revealed he had torn his right ACL all over again.
So Glaze had to sit out his junior year — the most important one for college recruiting — while he had surgery and rehabbed again. He had an offer from Morgan State as a 10th-grader, but now his prospects for college appeared to dim.
“You know, the unique thing about him is that, even with the injury, he never got down on himself,” Mata said. “He kept his grades up and kept working hard, and at one point, somewhere, he was figuring, like, ‘What else could possibly happen?’”
By last summer, Glaze was fully healthy and able to show the quick feet and what Mata calls “his good bend” — football parlance to describe Glaze’s ability to use his hips to get in and out of blocking stances quickly.
Mata took him to college camps, and coaches were intrigued by Glaze’s knowledge of the game and his size. At 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, Glaze already has a college frame.
During what turned out to be an all-conference season at West Mecklenburg, Glaze picked up offers from schools like Appalachian State, Campbell, Connecticut, Florida International and S.C. State. Last month, coaches from Maryland came on campus and watched his film. They offered and Glaze committed.
He’d always dreamed of playing for a Power 5 school. He just never imagined the route he would have to take.
“I never thought I would be getting injured,” he said. “But once I did, I had to come back harder. I always knew I was going to play, after the first surgery, after the second surgery. I love football too much. So I couldn’t give it up. So (signing with Maryland) is like a dream come true. You missed basically three years, and you come out one year and have to show coaches that you’re different from every other lineman.
“I think I did that.”
Mata sees some of the same qualities in Glaze as he did in former West Meck receiver Dyami Brown, now enjoying a strong career at North Carolina.
“You can just see them when they come through here, the special players,” Mata said. “I think Dyami is going to be a Sunday football player.”
Glaze, he said, “has just got to stay healthy.”
“He’s always where he needs to be. He has the mental toughness. He has the physical toughness and he finishes the blocks. He’s got great technique.” Mata says.
“Once he gets to Maryland and puts on more weight and gets stronger, I can easily see him playing on Sundays, too.”
▪ Glaze will play in the Queen City Senior Bowl Saturday at 1:05 p.m. at the Matthews SportsPlex. The game will feature some of the top senior high school football players from Mecklenburg County.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 4:24 PM.
