EXCLUSIVE: Owamagbe Odighizuwa Opens Up
This late in the recruiting process, I'm frankly stunned when any major recruit answers a phone call, much less gives me 15 minutes. But Owamagbe Odighizuwa - profile here - is not your typical prospect. While he is weary of the process and eagerly awaits making his decision, he has been remarkably candid and is quite honest when he says he does not know where he'll sign.
Here's my interview after the jump...
Inside UCLA: Is the process getting any easier as it winds down? Do you expect it to?OWA: "I hope it gets easier, but I don't see it getting easier. It will have to come down to where I really want to go."
JG: How difficult is it choosing between three vastly different situations - UCLA, Nebraska and Oregon State?
OWA: "It feels weird - I feel like I fit in three situations perfectly fine. I'm not a person who's just stuck in one situation. I feel like I can mold to different situations and different people. Thats what those three schools offer."
JG: What are the main differences between the three for you?OWA: "Oregon State, I'm kind of used to the people and everything. The area, everything. UCLA is a different setting, more of a city, sunshine. Nebraska is kind of more like OSU in the sense that it's not big, more of a college atmosphere, a college town. They're big on football there with that tradition. It's just different."
JG: How overwhelming is this whole process?OWA: "It's pretty overwhelming, knowing that the three schools I'm choosing from is a dead tie. You want to find something that differentiates one from the next. I've made categories, and I've looked at every category, and they all came out to a dead tie."
JG: How does it feel knowing that signing day is less than a week away?OWA: "I hope I have my decision made. I think I will. At this point, it will be weird knowing that I won't be getting recruited any more in six days."
JG: College recruits flip-flop on their decisions all the time. For you, will it be final?OWA: "When I make my choice, it's going to be final. Throughout this whole recruiting process, I haven't committed anywhere. When I make it official, it's going to be that way. I haven't jumped on the bandwagon or got all hyped up and second-guessed myself. Once it's all said and done, whereever I choose is going to be final."
Well done Jon hopefully RN can sway him our way
Sounds like a thoughtful, conscientious kid.
Love to get him; wish him well if we don't.
This kid is a perfect example of how a good program gets better. You recruit quality people, tell em the truth and hope they visualize walking to class across your campus. The USC/UCLA recruiting snark gets old. This is the kind of blog entry I like to see. Good luck to him, and to us.
I think you should go see him and talk him into UCLA.
Down to the wire...hope he chooses the sunshine.
Great Job Jon
Thanks for reaching out to Owa
I wish him the best in whoever he chooses(I hope UCLA)
i wonder if the small town college feel is what he's looking for? you cant beat living in westwood kid...
I love this kid. In this day and a age, elite athletes and quality person are not often spoken in the same sentence.
Nice interview, Jon!
Mr. Odighizuwa - consider this...
Current temperatures Thursday 3:40pm
Nebraska: 15 degrees (brrrrrrr...)
Oregon: 48 degrees (keep wearing those jackets)
UCLA: 65 degrees (hmmm... maybe go to the beach?)
Nebraska has 5 DE commits to Oregon State's and UCLA's 3. This is cerebral kid and my gut feeling is he'll want to "get out and see the world". His comments about the sunshine leads me to guess he'll pick UCLA. The momentum that CRN is building just bolsters this feeling.
UCLA sounds like a long shot...given how that reads.
this kid's got a good head on his shoulders. perfect fit for UCLA!
Nice to see a high school kid with lots of class. Hope it's UCLA, but wherever he goes is one lucky school.
"UCLA sounds like a longshot" ? what part of "dead tie" don't you understand?
Do what's best for you Owa! Just don't go to SCum at the last minute.
Jon, don't it feel good to type that word "EXCLUSIVE"...
hahaha... Way to go and congratulations!!
Owa:
The fans in Husker Nation hope that you will be the next future Heisman finalist to join the Nebraska Blackshirt tradition!
UCLA and Mr. Owa are made for each other. The other two schools don't have the academics that he clearly needs, especially with his interest in sports business. I hope we will be the right choice for him.
Besides, I want to learn how to properly pronounce his name - 3 or 4 years as a Bruin would give us all ample opportunity.
This pretty much says it all!
http://cfblive.blogspot.com/
In the end, its about family, trust, and loyalty.
Hey Owa - OSU was just picked the top family asmosphere of any program in the nation... for the third year in a row! Mike Riley is a great coach who wins games and puts guys in the NFL. Just look at the 2009 Draft: OSU had 7 draft picks (5 on defense); Nebraska had 3; UCLA had ZERO draft picks. Easy choice to me.
If given the choice, would you really want to play football at UCLA or Oregon State over Nebraska? I think not.
you pronounce it oh-wah-mahg-beh oh-diggy-zoo-ah.
Those are easy for us now.
GBR.
Owamagbe, we already know how to pronounce your name (sorry Big Woof!). Come home to Nebraska and leave it and your legacy on the great Cornhusker tradition.
Oh when he puts on the N, I can only imagine what you UCLA fans faces will look like. At least you don't have to play against em :) GBR
"At least you don't have to play against em :) GBR"
Actually, NU travels to Pasadena in 2012 and UCLA repays the visit in 2013. That would be Owa's Junior and Senior Years.
Hey, come on now Josh, we wouldn't expect Huskers fans to actually follow their team close enough to know their own schedule in future years, would we?
They're too busy hanging out on other teams' blog websites for that, and trying to imagine what those teams' fans look like in t-shirts and shorts, basking in the sun, while they put on another winter coat.
As a kid who's currently going to school at OSU, I can say that Corvallis is a great town to be young in.
Zero drama, chill party scene and easy friendships are what Corvallis is about.
Owa seems like a good dude, he'll excel where ever he goes. Best of luck breh, even though you'll probably never see this.
thanks for playing Adam
Good luck wherever you go kid. But my money would be on the Huskers to give you what you're looking for out of a football program. It's not basketball (UCLA) or baseball (OSU), it's football, and that means NU. Neither UCLA nor OSU have the tradition, the fans, the program, the facilities, or the defensive coaches that can compare with Nebraska.