Mario Ojemudia vs. 55 & 56
Somethings to consider in the discussions of moving Mario to OLB.
First - For his high school career he has played with his hand on the ground as a defensive tackle or a defensive end. According to the "Hello" post he is a monster coming off the line:
The 6-3, 215-pounder is undersized in the trenches, but his power and quickness mitigates that disadvantage. So, too, does his relentless aggression. "Mario is unstoppable," said Burbridge. "You never seen him blocked. Mario is a beast." Funchess agreed: "(Ojemudia) is just an animal. He just gets the job done."
Ojemudia made 127 tackles on the season from his defensive end spot, including 12 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. Ojemudia was a driving force behind Harrison winning their 13th championship in 2010. He was also one of only three underclassmen to be named to the Detroit Free Press Dream Team.
Second - He is only a Junior in high school at 6'2 and 220 lbs. He may add inches and weight over the next year and arrive on campus at 6'3 or 6'4 and 230 or 240. Compare his size and stats as a junior to two Michigan greats when they were high school seniors:
| Names | Ht | Wt | 40 | Bench | Vertical |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Ojemudia | 6'2 | 220 | 4.65 | 315 | 30 |
| Brandon Graham | 6'2 | 251 | 4.67 | 28 | |
| LaMarr Woodley | 6'1 | 250 | 4.72 | 325 | 29 |
While I realize that it's unfair to expect Mario to measure up to these all-time greats, I thought it was reasonable to remind the many posters who claim he won't play DE that a lot of growing can happen between age 17 and 20. Since we all hope he has that much time to mature he could be 6'3 265 by then and a pass rushing monster.
Isn't it nice to dream about the potential of this 2012 class?
That might be a tad optimistic on the size, but I agree on the potential. I absolutely love this kid (as a football player at least))
and I think the concern is his frame. People aren't sure he has a body type conducive to gaining that much weight.
who get suckered into staring contests with him. Seriously I think he could melt your eyeballs in a staring contest. He's gonna be an awesome Wolverine. QB sees him coming off the edge and just turtles up.
you are a master of optimistic extrapolation...more power to you my friend
In the years to come, we're not going to be lacking at the LB position (barring unforeseen circumstances). I think we'll have time to see if he can put on the extra weight he needs, and if not, coaches can consider a position change. But I think there is at least a couple years before we have to deal with that.
Graham and Woodley were also consensus super elite players who were, for example, running as fast as Ojemudia at 30+ pounds heavier while still in high school.
It's pretty unfair to compare Mario with two guys who were elite prospects and basically developed perfectly from there. He's got a long way to go to get there, but I really wish him well.
At The Opening, Mario ran a 5.02 electronically timed 40, so I don't know how his speed stacks up against those bigger guys anyway. The time might have just been on a bad day for Mario though.
Ojemudia could put on 30 pounds in three or four years, I don't think that's a problem. That would make him a RS soph or RS junior, since I'm sure he'll redshirt. I doub't he'll play before then regardless of size, and if he has that kind of tenacity, that's worth an extra 10-15 pounds anyway.
In high school I wrestled 125 - 135 - 145 - 171/189. By freshman year of college I was 205 solid in the offseason. My point is - no telling how much growth a 'child' will have during these years. I put on 20-30% of solid weight in 2 years, so he could literally be 270 by the end of his freshman year.
but in high school I was 6'0 132 pounds. I'm now in my mid-20s, eat Chipotle every day for lunch, and weigh 132 pounds. Some people put on weight. Some don't.
Anything everyday is a bit much. Except coffee and beer of course.
AAB's point is well taken, however. Metabolism is what it is. I love Mario's will to succeed, regardless.
6'0" 132lbs? Seriously though, I was skinny in high school, and I was like 150, and I was skinny, and I'm 5'9". No offense to you, but I also doubt you were spending 6 days a week in a weight room and taking in 300% DV of protein.
I think you're the anamoly here. You also were never in a college S&C program, I assume. Point is, athlete or not, most men put on a decent amount of muscle mass from age 17 to age 20. I'm not saying Ojemudia is 265 by his RS frosh year, but he's going to be a lot more than the 220 he is now.
Watch out AAB - your metabolism is not going to remain this fast forever. Five years from now, daily Chipotle runs might give you a spare tire in the midsection.
Trust me, it's easy :)
But seriously, Hasn't Roh put on like 40 lbs since his freshman year? Also IIRC Omameh was very undersized at first.
He'll probably redshirt, hit the weight room and be ready to fight for playing time as a RS frosh.
Someone said it above, but the issue with MO is his frame. I think Roh has the frame to carry that much extra weight.
One analysts said that he doesn't see MO as someone having the frame to carry extra weight to play DE in college. That is just an opinion of one analysts and he has the potential to be wrong about this. I guess we will just have to wait and see, but in the mean time we should just keep speculating because that is what the off season is for.
just sounds like a football player a balla if you will. That said you can't teach motor, relentlessness. The other parts can be developed ie. weight and strenght. Has he peaked as far as height is concerned only time will tell.
Ojemudia could put on 30 pounds in three or four years, I don't think that's a problem. That would make him a RS soph or RS junior, since I'm sure he'll redshirt. I doub't he'll play before then regardless of size, and if he has that kind of tenacity, that's worth an extra 10-15 pounds anyway.
Wow, that's something I haven't seen in a while.
tweener types like Ojemudia and Beyer who could occupy the Graham/Woodley role. Ojemudia could end up the WDE but theoretically if we have Washington, Strobel, Wormley, and maybe Godin playing DT/DE then Ojemudia would likely project as a SAM in the 4-3 under.
Strobel, Wormley and Washington (is that a law firm?) all project as either SDEs or possibly 3 Tech DTs, so that does not affect the situation at WDE which is where Mario fits in. There is also talk of creating a position like the OSU Viper which is a WDE/SAM hybred.
Another way that we can compare Mario to Woodley or Graham is that when they both came out for the NFL draft, the pundits that wanted to criticize them called them "tweeners" or other terms implying that their size might be an issue. We all know how that turned out. Let's hope that Mario has similar success silencing those who base their less positive reviews on him on size only.
Not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog, and all that. Mario sure seems like a scrapper . . .
Woodley "small." :o) Maybe we could call them hybrids or something. I think the other reason they're so easily draftable is the size/athletecism combo. They can also get picked for multiple schemes so more teams could move for them.
It has been my observation that when a guy is in school, going into the draft with a size other than what has been deemed ideal by the conventional sources, he is a "tweener". If that same player goes on to be a standout, all of a sudden, he is not a tweener, he is a "mismatch". Go figure . . . :-)
(or sometimes "hybrid", as you pointed out - just not "tweener" anymore)
It's funny -- I think Mario resembles the RichRod "tweener" recruits (e.g., Mike Jones) more than most of Hoke's other recruits, who can generally be mapped to a college position pretty well.
NTTAWT ... I like Mario as a player and look forward to watching his development.
I'm not going to bother worrying about where some of these defensive recruits are going to project. I'm just excited for the opportunity to see Greg Mattison work with all these kids. If all goes well, this is going to be a very compelling and informative (how many opportunities do you get to see a top-notch coach work with such a variety of top-notch athletes) team in a few years.
Everything I've seen from this kid suggests that he would be the perfect hybrid DE/OLB.
People who saw him recently say he's closer to 6'1 and 200pds... And his sparq scores in Oregon don't match what you listed. Just don't see him ever being big enough to play with his hand down in college.