Sunny Odogwu

Joined
Nov 3, 2011
Messages
3,058
Yes, I am considering the source here but jesus this kid is ******* big. I dont know how good he is but im assuming he can play if we did offer him and love that we are adding size like this.

SaveUMFootball Papa Cane
Recruiting Update: Miami has offered OL/DL Sunny Odogwu, 6'9" and 270 lbs, from Maryland.
 
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from what I've read he's a Nigerian basketball player and recently chose to play football and blew up at a recent camp

we appear to be his first offer

I really like that this staff is very aggressive/proactive with recruiting
 
from what I've read he's a Nigerian basketball player and recently chose to play football and blew up at a recent camp

we appear to be his first offer

I really like that this staff is very aggressive/proactive with recruiting

Kristen Kenney says Notre Lame is his leader.
 
Sunny Odogwu is a hidden gem no longer. The 6-foot-9, 270-pound defensive end/offensive tackle from St. Frances Academy in Baltimore just received his first official offer from Miami, according to his coach Messay Hailemariam.

"Miami has been looking at Sunny for a long time; they actually gave him a verbal offer about two weeks ago and the official letter just came in," Hailemariam said. "The letter just said they loved Sunny's potential; they offered him strictly off of raw footage. But they think they can work with him and they actually want Sunny to graduate early so their coaches can start preparing him right away."

Haiemariam went on to say that Odogwu, who has lived most of his life in Africa, was "very excited" about the offer.

"Sunny is the most humble kid you're ever going to meet," Hailemariam said. "As soon as I showed him the offer he was like, 'I am so honored. I have a chance to go to college now. This is very, very good thing (laughs).'"

Miami figures to be the first of many offers for Odogwu, who will complete his first ever football season tomorrow. Evidently Notre Dame, Maryland, South Carolina and a host of other major Division-I programs are considering extending a scholarship.

"The thing that made colleges hesitate on Sunny early on is that he had never played football before," Hailemariam said. "But now that his film's out there and we've had a chance to help him, you can see the potential and the upside. Actually, he's progressed a lot faster than even I thought. He's trained so hard."

Hailemariam went on to detail Odogwu's dedicated workout regimen, which includes avid film study and weight training. He's even had a chance to work against D-I caliber defensive ends/tackles in practice before.

"We brought in speed guys and big physical guys -- everyone to try and get him used to the competition he'd be playing against," Hailemariam said. "The thing with Sunny is that he tends to play down to the competition right now, so we wanted to get him ready for what he'd see at the next level. But he wanted it so bad and he's so quick at picking things up. He's learned how to punch, to chip, to move down the line. He was a raw slate when he first got here and he's just so much better now."

Hailemariam said Odogwu has already planned out his five official visits. Besides Miami, he wants to take trips to Notre Dame, South Carolina, Colorado and USC.

Odogwu has already been to Maryland multiple times, so he doesn't plan to take an official to College Park.

"He feels real good about his hometown school; he really likes it down at Maryland," Hailemariam said. "Sunny also really likes the idea of Notre Dame with all that tradition. But, to tell you the truth, he just doesn't know enough yet about all these colleges. He has to take his visits first."

Hailemariam stressed that qualifying wouldn't be a problem. Apparently Odogwu has a 3.5 GPA and an 1110 math/verbal SAT.

"He is most definitely a smart, learned individual," Hailemariam said. "Grades won't be an issue for him."
 
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NR on both scout and rivals right now.

Big ole MF'r.

Definitely a project.
 
When you only have 15-20 scholies, you take a pass. When you are going for 30+, you take a chance on someone like this.
 
He's a 6'9" 270lb 17 year old Nigerian basketball player...my guess is he's in pretty good shape.
 
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Can someone post the article from rivals on this big boy with him chomping down the turkey leg?
 
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We've already got 3 OL in this class, can't see us going higher than 4. I'd like this kid to be a plan C behind Garnett and Brodie.
 
With three offensive linemen committed, if you miss out on some the heavy hitters left (Joshua Garnett, Ryan Brodie, Ronnie Staley), you can grab a Kehoe Special and be comfortable with it.
 
With three offensive linemen committed, if you miss out on some the heavy hitters left (Joshua Garnett, Ryan Brodie, Ronnie Staley), you can grab a Kehoe Special and be comfortable with it.

Would you consider him a Kehoe special, seems a little bigger than what Kehoe liked.
 
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Thanksgiving was a special time for Baltimore (MD) St. Frances Academy OL Sunny Odogwu.

It was a time for him to reflect on where he's come from.

And where he's going.

It was just two years ago that Odogwu was awarded a basketball scholarship to play in the United States from his home country Nigeria. In the U.S. he has his own bedroom. In Africa he shared a 12x12 room with 10 family members. With one bed pushed up against a wall for his parents, there was no room for him to sleep inside. So he'd take a wooden mat, lay it down outside the front door and go to sleep.

The mosquitoes lay in wait every night.

"I still have the marks of bug bites all over me - it was hard," said Odogwu, who says `Sunny' is his given name and that he thinks it's fitting because "I'm always smiling."

Odogwu's father, a carpenter, died shortly before he came to America. His mother is a seamstress struggling to bring home enough for the family.

Which is why it brought tears to his family's eyes when Odogwu sent home one of his first pictures from the U.S.

There he was in 2009, standing in his host family's dining room with an enormous turkey leg in one hand, mouth wide open ready to devour it.

"They were so happy I had so much to eat," Odogwu said of his family's reaction to that picture.

When Odogwu lived in Africa he would help out by hunting for dinner.

"We would hunt grass cutter, which are like huge rats, bigger than cats," he said. "We'd eat that, go for deer and those things.

"The transition (to America) was tough at first. Here everybody has a lot to eat; how I was raised we never had it all."

Needless to say, it wasn't an easy decision for mom to let this 6-foot-9, 270-pounder leave home when he was helping provide for the family.

"It was a hard decision to let me come to the USA," Odogwu said. "But it was best for the family for me to have good education."

Now Odogwu is looking forward to continuing that education at a top college that won't cost him a cent - the Hurricanes were the first to give him serious recruiting interest and he says he has now added offers from West Virginia and Notre Dame. He visited West Virginia last weekend and will visit Notre Dame on Thursday.

He's in the process of setting up an official visit to Miami.

"We're sending his transcripts down now so we can get that set up," said Odogwu's high school coach, Messay Hailemariam.

Odogwu says of the Canes that "I've been following a lot about them, am thinking about going there. Miami's a great school. They have everything - good education, academics and everything and a good football program. It's in a good place."

Odogwu says there's a chance he'll graduate early.

And, asked if there's a decent chance he'll wind up a Hurricane, Odogwu said, "They have a pretty good chance because they are a great program. Following up on what they've done for a long time, they've been great. They have guys getting good degrees and making it to the next level."

Odogwu is in his first year playing organized football, so he's a raw talent.

Hailemariam says that "his hands and feet - he's the best prospect I've seen in a long time. He runs a 4.93 40. He's got athletic ability and he's smart. Anything you teach him, he's a fast learner."

Odogwu initially attended Huntington Prep in West Virginia, earning a basketball scholarship there after he wowed at a camp in Georgia. He competed in basketball, soccer and track at the school before transferring to St. Frances this year.

So how did it come about that he began playing football this season?

"I came to Maryland and began playing football because people said I was too aggressive for basketball," Odogwu said. "And I've been learning football. I love football. You can hit and nobody will call fouls, so it's awesome."


Sounds like a nice hard working young man. Well disciplined, too.
 
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