PORTLAND, Ore. — After dark Tuesday, a few hours after the kid broke the news to Nebraska assistant John Papuchis, a high school coach's wife crossed Portland east to west in search of a shopping mall.
She'd called around that afternoon looking, looking, looking for a baseball cap. Finally, she hit pay dirt.
Her husband could've gone to make the purchase. But she worried someone might recognize him as Owamagbe Odighizuwa's coach. So she went instead.
And the next morning, with about 150 people from David Douglas High School sitting silently in the auditorium, Odighizuwa announced the winner of this recruiting reality show, reached down beneath the podium at which he stood, lifted the lid from an orange Nike shoe box and, Voila!, ended the most intense (and secretive) decision-making process a Douglas High recruit has known.
Blue hat, gold “B”.
UCLA.
“I believe in my heart that their football is on the rise and I could be part of that,” Owa said. “At the end of the day, I just felt the most comfortable at that school.”
Owa's teammates, teachers and friends applauded. Nebraska fans 1,500 miles away? Not quite the same reaction.
From a Husker perspective, the suspense of Signing Day 2010 centered on this city, this chiseled 235-pound son of a Nigerian immigrant, this heralded defensive end who rates among the top 20 prospects in America.
Owa showed up at the auditorium 30 minutes before showtime. ESPN cameramen called his shots.
“That gum is going to have to go,” said Dan Wood, his high school coach.
“It's only six after (11 a.m.),” replied a Douglas staff member. “Let him have his security.”
Owa kept chomping. Prior to Tuesday afternoon, he had kept his mouth shut. Told only his mother of his decision.
By the time Wednesday he pulled out his white index cards, on which he'd scribbled notes, only a few close friends knew. That included a girl in braces and a ponytail in the front row. She wasn't spilling any beans.
Oregon State? That's what some locals presumed, especially when Owa showed up in an orange Ralph Lauren polo shirt.
Nebraska?
Considering the Huskers' sterling defense in 2009, and that its star defender, Ndamukong Suh, also hailed from Portland, many predicted that Owa would follow in Big Suh's cleats and Nebraska would score its highest-rated prospect since Marlon Lucky.
Owa preferred a degree from UCLA, where he wants to major in business, sociology or psychology. He preferred the people at UCLA, including coach Rick Neuheisel and defensive line coach Todd Howard.
“I built a really good relationship with him,” Owa said of Neuheisel, whose NCAA rules indiscretions at Colorado and Washington have cast a shadow on his career. “I felt like he was a really great guy ...
“Everybody kind of used his past against him. He's made mistakes just like everybody else in life does. But people have to learn from it.
“My mom trusted him. He played by the rules throughout this whole recruiting process.”
Had the decision been up to Owa's mom, he might have gone somewhere else, she said. Perhaps Nebraska.
Husker coaches particularly wowed the family after their visit to Portland. Owa appreciated it when Bo Pelini told him nothing would be given to Owa, that he'd have to work for playing time.
According to his coach, Owa told Wood, “‘Coach, it felt so good to have somebody tell me that, because so many schools have been telling me how great I am.'”
What went wrong for Nebraska? Hard to know for sure. Wood said location may have been a factor.
“You go to Hollywood and it's sunny in the wintertime and it's an upscale area, 10 minutes from the beach,” Wood said. “At one point, he told me, ‘Coach, I could see myself living down there someday.'”
Owa stated more than once that he could be a football success wherever he went. He was more concerned about other factors.
The comment probably explained his decision as much as anything. If Nebraska had a trump card, it was Pelini's ability to churn out dominant defenses — and dominant defensive linemen.
An hour after Owa's announcement, Pelini was asked if losing the five-star prospect disappointed him.
“You just move on to the next one. Yeah, you recruit them because I think he'd be a good player. But in the end, he's not going to make or break what we're going to do as a football team, as a football program.”
Next time Pelini sees Owa on the football field will likely come Sept. 8, 2012.
Nebraska at UCLA.
Contact the writer:
649-1461, dirk.chatelain@owh.com
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