Every defense needs an alpha.

The Permian football team’s undeniable leader during its 2017 season was Preston Ellison.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior linebacker finished with team-high 96 tackles, seven quarterback hurries, two sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception returned 36 yards for a touchdown on a Panthers team that allowed 260.1 yards and 18.2 points per game.

For those efforts, Ellison has been named the Odessa American’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not going to scream and holler, but that doesn’t affect the way I play football. Every player has their own mindset, but I like to speak with my actions instead of talking,” said Ellison, who helped Permian concluded its 2017 campaign with a 9-2 overall record and bi-district victory over El Paso Coronado. “You can talk as much as you want, but what are you going to do on the field? A lot of the leadership goes with how you play. I try to lead by example and lead with my actions.”

Though fans and spectators typically saw a calm demeanor from Ellison, Permian defensive coordinator Vance Washington said there were points in time the senior captain vocally stepped in.

Washington explained those moments were influential to the six underclassmen on the first-team defense.

“He showed more emotion on the field than people think,” Washington said about Ellison. “He would get on the guys and he would pump them up, give words of encouragement and get on them when he needed to.”

As a sophomore, Ellison received his first playing time at linebacker for a defense that gave up a total of 100 points in 10 regular season games.

Ellison made his first career start in the Panthers’ bi-district playoff game against Arlington Bowie, which they won 49-12. Ellison never left the starting lineup after that.

The Permian senior linebacker started 23 straight games — 13 at linebacker and 10 at safety.

“I had as good of a career as I could have asked for,” Ellison said. “I didn’t have any injuries that set me out for any games. There were little bumps and bruises here and there, but I feel like I did my part for Permian. I did as much could.

“Unfortunately everything must come to end and my time has come. I passed the torch to the younger guys and I feel like I was a good influence on them. I’ll still support all the those guys anytime that they need me.”

In his high school career, Ellison amassed 195 tackles, 12 pass breakups, five tackles for a loss, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, two sacks and two interceptions returned for touchdowns — 85 and 35 yards. Ellison played linebacker in his sophomore and senior season and moved to safety as a junior.

Permian head coach Blake Feldt said Ellison’s ability to play multiple positions has increased his value to college teams.

On Wednesday, Ellison inked his letter of intent to continue his football career at SMU. In addition to SMU, Ellison received a wide array of interest from NCAA Division I FBS programs including Army, Texas State, New Mexico, New Mexico State and Tulane. He was also in communication with Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.

“He’s got all the things that you need to be a great defensive football player,” Feldt said. “He’s been a great defensive football player since he’s been in our program. He had an outstanding senior year. He did some good things a junior and a sophomore, but making tackles from sideline to sideline as an outside linebacker position is outstanding. He was able to do that all year long.”

Ellison, who has gotten up to 200 pounds since his high school career ended on Nov. 24 to Arlington Martin, believes with his experiences at linebacker and safety will help him see the collegiate field sooner.

“Wherever I go, I’ll have that much better of a chance to get on the field,” he said. “If a safety goes down, I can play safety or if they need me to play linebacker, I can do that too. College is whole different game, but I feel like I show my athleticism pretty well to the college coaches.”
