 Although Ellis was the strongest person on the 2007 Trojans and only the third player under Pete Carroll's Trojan tenure to lift over , he had only started lifting weights since he was 15 (10 years as of 2010) because his father would not allow him to lift at a younger age.In addition to benching a team-best , at the 2007 spring pro day Ellis hoisted 225 lb 42 times.Because of his strength, the Trojans had to purchase a set of 200-pound dumbbells for their weight room just to accommodate him (the previous high were 160s); Ellis would do sets of eight reps on the incline bench with the 200s.