Blue White Illustrated

he said. "I think since last year, I've prob- ably only watched one game on TV, besides watching 5lm." As he approaches the 5nal two months of his Penn State football career, the senior defensive end isn't spending much time dwelling on the past. Instead, he's con- tinuing to follow the workaholic approach that he learned from his father years ago. Abdul Olaniyan used to warn his son about the dangers of complacency. "You've got to work on everything," he would say. "They day you don't work on something is the day you start going backward. You nev- er stay the same." With that in mind, Olaniyan is looking to surpass a junior season in which he ranked among the Big Ten's top 15 players in sacks (11th with 5ve), tackles for loss (14th with 11) and forced fumbles (fourth with three). He received honorable mention All-Con- ference notice, but he views that per- formance less as an accomplishment than as a steppingstone. "I would say I was happy but not satis5ed," he said. "Coming into the spring and the summer I knew there were some things I needed to improve on, so that's what I did so that I can have a better season this year." Olaniyan also concedes that he's feeling a bit of "extra pressure" – his words – to perform at a high level this year. He is hoping that he has a future in pro football, and while lots of college players share that goal, Olaniyan's motivation comes from a very speci5c source: his 1-year- old daughter, Nahla. "It's not just about me," he said. "I have to think about my family as well. As far as my daughter, my 5ancee, and me per- sonally, family means a lot to me. I put my family on my sleeve every time I'm out there." Nahla was born in April 2013, the day a7er the Blue-White Game. Olaniyan played in that game, then drove home to his native Michigan for her birth. To that point in his football career, he was a promising but largely unproven player for the Nittany Lions. A four-star recruit coming out of Mott High in Warren, Mich., he had played in 16 games during his 5rst two seasons of eligibility and had even made a start against Temple as a sophomore. But heading into the 2013 season, he was garnering far less attention than the player on the opposite side of Penn State's defensive line. Deion Barnes had been the Big Ten's Defensive Freshman of the Year the season before and was being hailed as the next big star in a long line of great Penn State defensive linemen. But with Barnes forced to overcome of- fensive schemes designed to neutralize him, Olaniyan turned out to be a playmaker for Penn State. He came on strong in the conference season, winning Big Ten De- fensive Player of the Week honors for an eight-tackle performance against Michigan that included 2.5 sacks. Against Nebraska, he had 5ve tackles and a sack, and he forced and recovered a fumble that led to a Penn State touchdown. And at Wiscon- sin, he was a problem for the Badgers all a7ernoon, totaling three quarterback hur- ries and three tackles in addition to his interception. This season, having already collected his degree in criminology, he is poised for even bigger things. James Franklin is look- ing for him to team with Barnes to give the Nittany Lions' defense pocket-crush- ing power at both defensive end spots. What the 5rst-year coach has seen so far has been encouraging. "He's a mature guy, a steady guy, and he's the same guy every single day, which is important to me," Franklin said. "We talk about that as a coaching sta6, about coming out and being the same guy every day from an energy and enthusiasm stand- point. That's what you want from your players. You don't want high days and low days. You want those guys to come out and work every single day, and C.J. is a really good example of that." Olaniyan was voted one of Penn State's defensive captains this season along with fellow senior Mike Hull, an honor that he said "means a lot to me." He's not likely to be the loudest player in Penn State's locker room, but his maturity and per- REVERSAL OF FORTUNE Olaniyan's inter- ception return at Wisconsin in 2013 helped lift the Nit- tany Lions to a 31-24 victory over the Badgers.

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