This may be Eli Cox’s sixth year of college football, but it’s different in one special way – it’s his first season as a married player.

The Kentucky offensive lineman married Lauryn Willis in January and says life on and off the field has been “pretty good” ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Southern Mississippi.

“It’s just been great to have that support that she’s been for me and she helps me in a lot of ways, getting me all the extra meals that I need for the calories and proteins and things like that. I’ve really enjoyed married life,” said the former West Jessamine High School star.

He said his wife understands how much time a college football player must dedicate to the sport, as this is their fifth football season together.

“She knows the schedule and what that means for me in terms of time,” he said. “We met in a statistics class in my second year of university (in the UK).”

A college statistics class might not seem like the ideal romantic setting to meet your future wife, but it worked for Cox, and the wedding date was influenced in some ways by football.

“When we were deciding whether to declare for the draft after last season or come back, we thought it would be easier to get married either way,” Cox said. “Then if we actually declared for the draft, regardless of where we got drafted, we could have just packed everything up and moved it and focused on that and not had to worry about wedding planning.”

“So that was kind of always planned and it made year six a lot easier for me. And now that that’s done, we can focus on the season and prepare for the NFL.”

He has played in 44 games in his career and had started 35 straight games prior to Saturday’s game. He has started games at both center and guard, but again enters this season as the UK’s No. 1 center.

His parents, John and Katherine Cox, are longtime UK Football League season ticket holders and fans of the Big Blue, and Cox knows they were probably as happy as the UK League coaches when he decided to stay with the Wildcats for a sixth season to reinforce the offensive line again.

“My parents were excited. They’ve loved going to the games since we were kids and this year they get to watch me play again,” Cox said. “The coaches were obviously excited to have me come back as a leader. I really saw the enthusiasm coming from our playmakers and I just wanted to be another building block to help win games.”

Has marriage changed his view of football or even his daily life?

“It definitely makes me feel older. I’m 24 now and married and some of those kids, I mean, I started playing college football before those kids could even drive, so it makes me feel older. But it was good. I was really excited about it,” said Cox, who graduated in May 2022 and is now working on his degree.

Cox is one of three UK soccer representatives on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for the fourth consecutive year. He has also been a member of the SEC Leadership Council for two years and chaired that group last year.

“My teammates respect what I have to say. They know I’m not going to steer them in the wrong direction,” Cox said. “They know that everything I say is respectful and for their benefit and for the benefit of the team. It’s a great feeling to know that every one of my teammates respects me and wants to know what I have to say.”

Cox was part of the Big Blue Wall that the former UK offensive coach built before his death and knows the last two years haven’t been up to the same standard. He believes that will change this year.

“We have a lot of guys that want to play together. I feel like they’re a brotherhood and we can trust each other and that means a lot,” Cox said.