The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1083898
64 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2019 BY BRANDON BROWN Three-star defensive end David Ojabo was born in Nigeria and spent his formative years growing up in Ab- erdeen, Scotland. After coming to the United States and enrolling at Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., he re- alized that he was better at football than both soccer and basketball, and almost immediately turned into a Power Five prospect. He has only played two years of football, which has many people thinking that he's oozing with un- tapped potential, including his high school coach Jim Saylor. "He's a freak athletically and he's just learning the game," Saylor said. "He went from never being in a three- point stance in his life to playing a lot and getting better and better as his seasons progressed. "The kid is just a freak. He has so much upside." The 6-4, 252-pounder committed to Michigan in July of last year because of how comfortable he was in Ann Arbor and U-M's focus on academics as well as football. Now on campus as an early enrollee, Ojabo has a chance to explode according to Rivals.com Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst Adam Friedman. "I think enrolling early is going to help him a lot because he's behind the eight ball," Friedman said. "He's less experienced than just about anyone in this class, but because of his physical gifts he's probably the most under- rated as well. Physically he has a great frame, but he'll probably fill out even more. He's extremely athletic and can really run. "He still has a lot of room to im- prove from a technical standpoint and can learn a lot about the finer points of the game, and that's why enrolling early is big. He's an intelligent player that does take coaching well. We saw a lot of progress from his sophomore to junior year and then again from his junior year to his senior year." The big question now is how fast can Ojabo get ready? He's got the size and athleticism to be special, but he's got a long way to go before he's ready to face off against 300-pound (or more) offensive tackles. Fried- man sees Ojabo as someone who will soak everything up like a sponge and should be ready to contribute sooner rather than later. "Now that he's at Michigan it's all about how quickly he picks up the system and understands his re- sponsibilities," Friedman said. "Don Brown's defense is a little bit unique and they ask players to do very spe- cific things, so as long as he's able to pick that up he'll be fine. "The physical part is there, but there's a lot more to it than that. If he's not a regular contributor by year two, I'd be pretty surprised." ❏ Early Enrollee David Ojabo Is Trying To Reach His Full Potential STATISTICS Year Tkl. TFL Sacks FF TD 2018 50 17 12 2 1 2017 35 — 6 2 — HONORS • Named 2018 All-Mid-Atlantic Prep League first team on the defensive side of the ball, and was second team in 2017. RECRUITMENT • Pledged to U-M on July 2, 2018. • Was recruited by former defensive line coach Greg Mattison as well as de- fensive coordinator Don Brown. DID YOU KNOW? • Born in Nigeria, raised in Scotland and attended high school in New Jersey, starting as a sophomore — but origi- nally came with the hopes of playing basketball or even soccer. • Won the 2018 prep state title in the 100-meter dash with a personal-best time of 10.93 seconds. • At Nike's The Opening regional camp in New Jersey, Ojabo ran a 4.75 in the 40 and a 4.40 in the shuttle drill. He added a 33.3-inch vertical jump for a Nike+ Foot- ball Rating of 106.74, good for No. 13 overall at the event. THEY SAID IT • TheWolverine.com recruiting an- alyst Brandon Brown: "He has close to a seven-foot wingspan, and is ex- tremely coordinated and agile because of his multi-sport background. To put it bluntly, Ojabo is a freak." • Rivals.com Mid-Atlantic recruiting analyst Adam Friedman: "He's an ab- solute physical freak. He's someone that I think has one of the highest ceilings in this class. … He's really raw when it comes to technique, but I expect him to use his physical tools to his advantage. I think he'll be a difference-maker on defense once he comes into his own." DAVID OJABO DEFENSIVE END 6-4 • 252 BLAIR ACADEMY (N.J.) ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND RANKINGS STARS NAT. POS. STATE ✪ ✪ ✪ — 34* 12# ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 220 16* 4# ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 282 32^ 6# * Ranked as a strongside defensive end; ^ ranked as a defensive end; # ranked in N.J. 2019 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE 2019 Projection Ojabo will need to learn, develop and get comfortable with high-level football, but he's getting a jump- start on that as an early enrollee. He's very raw, but could become too good, too quick to keep off of the field. He won't necessarily be needed right away, which bodes well for his sky-high upside, but if he continues to improve like he has already in high school, the timeline could be sped up. 64 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2019 Ojabo has only played two years of football, but has an incredibly high ceiling thanks to his physical gifts, which include a sub- 11.0-second time in the 100-meter dash. PHOTO BY BRANDON BROWN