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Nnamdi Egbuaba, Freshman, OLB
Stats:
Height: 6'1''
Weight: 215
Twitter: N/A
High School Stats (Senior Year): 105 total tackles (17 for losses) and 19 sacks
247sports composite rating: Three stars, 99th-best outside linebacker in the country, 36th-best player in Maryland
High School: St. Frances Academy (Md.)
Hometown: Listed as Baltimore, but he's originally from Nigeria
High School Highlights: Click here for his footage.
How'd He Get to College Park?
Egbuaba's journey to College Park is a rather interesting one. Hailing from northern Nigeria, Egbuaba attended a football camp in 2011 in which Ricardo Dickerson, a former Maryland linebacker and fullback, was scouting for talent. He knew little about football when he came to the states after being awarded a Visa in 2012. When he landed in East Baltimore, St. Frances' coach Messay Hailemariam housed him for several months while his dormitory near St. Frances was being constructed.
Hailemariam, a former Maryland walk-on and self-proclaimed "black Rudy," mentored Egbuaba in his two seasons as a Panther. Egbuaba was a two-sport athlete, excelling in both football and basketball. In his senior year, he recorded 107 tackles and 19 sacks on his way to a second-team All-Conference and MIAA All-Conference.
Profiling the entire team
Egbuaba signed his LOI on National Signing Day. He also considered Connecticut and Virginia before landing with Randy Edsall and the Terrapins.
Nickname:
Nnamdi "Giant of CP" Egbuaba. Named after his mother country Nigeria, which is nicknamed "The Giant of Africa."
Career Highlight:
Racking up 19 sacks his senior year, along with being named All-Conference.
Dream Season:
Competes for a starting job and sacks Braxton Miller not once, not twice, but six times in one ballgame.
2014 Prospectus:
With the current surplus of outside linebackers on the roster, we expect Egbuaba to redshirt in his freshman season. There are currently four seniors at the outside linebacker position, so it will be easier for Egbuaba to compete for playing time after he redshirts. Egbuaba's ceiling is very high considering he has only played football for two seasons.
He has the lateral speed and quickness to bounce outside and chase down the talented Big Ten quarterbacks and running backs. He is a bit undersized for a linebacker but he makes up for it with his athleticism. Expect Egbuaba to be a serious candidate for the starting outside linebacker come his sophomore redshirt season. Until then, he will be key on scouting team and also on the special teams unit.
Up Next:
The next player shares initials and a last name of a first rounder in last years NBA Draft. There might even be a B1G tie.
Standings:
And just like that, folks, we have a sole possessor of first place. Congrats RedTurtle.
RedTurtle: 7
timmyw3: 6
Daniel Hamilton: 2
aubartolomei: 1
ClickClack62: 1
Terps_roc: 1
testudbro: 1
umcp96: 1
Maryland1206: 1
Scaletta: 1