Tight end Celek eager for more

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Most sophomores would be pretty pleased with themselves if they were named second-team all-conference.

Not University of Cincinnati tight end Brent Celek. He was miffed last year when he found out he had been named second-team all-Conference USA.

"I don't want to be just second-team or even first-team all-conference," Celek said. " I want to be the best that I can be, and I think I can be better than that."

So does Mark Staten, who coaches UC's tight ends.

"He was a little teed off ..." Staten said. "That's a great sign. You always want them to strive for the next step. I tell him, 'You should be all-Big East. You should be, by your senior year, an All-American,' and he embraces that."

Celek, a junior from La Salle High School, is one of the few accomplished veteran players on a team loaded with freshmen and sophomores. He's the only player on the team who received first- or second-team all-conference recognition last season.

As such, Celek has taken it upon himself to help the younger players, which makes him a valuable commodity beyond his ability to catch passes.

"I want them to help them grow and to become better players," Celek said. "So yeah, that's kind of my job to help them out, show them the way things are and teach them, not sit there and yell at them, because they are young and I was in that situation, too."

Celek has done a lot of growing up since he arrived at UC in the summer of 2003 to play his freshman year under head coach Rick Minter. He was a fairly skinny 220 pounds back then and admittedly lacked the toughness needed to succeed in major college football.

When Staten arrived at UC with head coach Mark Dantonio after Celek's freshman year, one of the first things he told Celek was that he needed to get tougher and play through the little bumps and bruises that come with the game on this level.

Celek, 6 feet 4, 260 pounds, had a breakout season last year, catching 23 passes for 254 yards and eight touchdowns, a school record for a tight end.

And he heeded Staten's admonition for more toughness.

"He just turned me into a way better player than I was when he first got here," Celek said. "I've learned about playing to the whistle on every play, finishing blocks, not taking anything from anybody."

Celek was recruited by Big Ten schools Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern, as well as Stanford of the Pac-10, but committed early to UC because he wanted to stay close to home. The oldest of five children, one of whom is a junior offensive lineman at La Salle, he wanted to keep his family bonds strong.

His father, Steve, who was an all-state tight end at Fremont (Ohio) Ross High School, and his mother, Debbie, used to drive Celek to practice at Visitation in Mack, St. Catharine's in Westwood and St. Ignatius in Monfort Heights when he was in grade school because his parish at St. Bernard in Taylor's Creek didn't have a football team.

"That's just the way we are," Celek said of his family. "We're usually together every weekend. That was part of my life that I didn't want to give up. I've been real close with my family and now I've got a serious girlfriend (former UC rower Susie Johnsen) that I plan on marrying."

A business major, Celek is also an honor roll student who had a perfect 4.0 GPA in spring quarter.

Staten says Celek has all the tools to play in the NFL - the size, the speed and good hands. It's up to Celek to decide what he does with those tools.

"He comes to work every day," Staten said. "That's changed from when I got here. He used to be like, 'This is hurting. How bad is it?' Now he's like, 'OK, this is hurting. Let's patch it up and go.' It's fun to coach a player like that, because you know you're going to get everything he's got to give."

Celek does have one drawback.

"I haven't washed my hair in eight weeks," he said proudly.

He says he won't wash it until UC wins its first game this season, which would be Sept. 1 against Eastern Michigan at the earliest.