Osita Ekwonu: the Silent King of the Gridiron
THE
CHARGER
The journey was far from easy for junior linebacker, Osita Ekwonu. It consisted of sacrificing his entire summers for the football team, whether that meant 7:00 a.m. workouts for four days a week, traveling around the country for camps, or hoping to get some sort of college exposure. He was hoping that all his hard work would eventually pay off, and that he would receive scholarships to play football at some of the top universities in the nation.
“It was disappointing,” said Ekwonu on not receiving any offers his sophomore year. His sophmore year was a great one, in which he racked up over 100 tackles. “Seeing people you know get offers, and knowing you worked just as hard as them was really tough.” Ekwonu used this as motivation that made him work harder, schools such as Duke, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame started to stop by more often to see the 6’2” 220 pound linebacker. Finally, Ekwonu received his first offer from Wake Forest in the summer before his junior year.“It was exciting and a blessing it was also humbling, It was nice to receive an offer after working hard since a Freshman year, but at the same time it was humbling that I had just received an offer which is something that very few kids receive in America” said Ekwonu on receiving his first offer from Wake Forest.
Osita Ekwonu was a little-known player who has turned into a big time national prospect.
“It was disappointing,” said Ekwonu of not receiving any offers from colleges at the end of his sophomore year.
When Osita Ekwonu woke up on January 30th he was a lightly recruited, small name prospect out of Charlotte, North Carolina. It was just a normal day for him, he knew that colleges were stopping by to talk to him, but he had no idea that he was about to become one of the hottest names in college recruiting in about the span of 8 hours. At the end of the day he had received offers from Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, and Louisville.
After a strong junior campaign, that earned him receiving All-Conference and All-State honors, Ekwonu thought that major division offers would start rolling in right after the season, but that wasn't the case. Major Division I schools were interested, but had not yet made offers. He knew that they were still interested by all of the recruiting letters he was receiving, yet no offer had come. In January Ekwonu received an offer from Duke University. “It was a blessing, to receive a full scholarship from a top 10 university in the country was really a dream come true.” It was nice for him to get a scholarship offer from one of his dream schools, but he still felt like he deserved more attention than he was getting.
Since January 30th the hot streak has not stopped for Ekwonu, who has racked up offers from universities such as Notre Dame and from the arguably greatest dynasty in college football and the defending National Champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“It was crazy, the whole day my phone was blowing up”, said Ekwonu about January 30th. It was one of the most impressive recruiting hauls for football in recent years. As an avid follower of college football, I can not remember the last recruit to receive 6 Power 5 offers in the span of 24 hours. In a short time Ekwonu went from an lightly recruited, unranked football player to a 4-star recruited who is ranked one hundred forty-eight Nationally, 5th in the State, and the 5th ranked linebacker in the country according to Rivals.com, which is a top national recruiting service provider that is used by most college scouts and coaches.
Ekwonu has not yet made a decision about where he wants to play football in college, but a few schools are definitely sticking out to him at this point. He really likes Notre Dame, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Duke in no particular order. He hopes to get on each campus soon and make a commitment before his senior year. He has also said that it would be cool to play with his twin brother Ikem, but that it is not a necessity. This goes to show that if you keep working hard and just stick with it that good things will come. Osita Ekwonu would be one of the first to tell you, because of his first-hand experience.
The journey was a rocky one, and at times it was hard to see the end for Ekwonu. “I would not have changed the process for anything, it has made me a more patient and stronger person for the better.” The road was a long one but Ekwonu said if he had to give advice for someone who isn't getting recruited heavily he said “Do not quit. Just trust the process, put your head down and work and the offers will come.”
“Do not quit. Just trust the process, put your head down and work and the offers will come.”
Osita during football game. Photo courtesy of Osita
Ekwonu.
Ekwonu posing for photo. Photo courtesy
of H. Reynolds.
Osita posing for photo. Image courtesy of H. Reynolds.
By Hudson Reynolds