Richard Sherman. Aqib Talib.
Those are two names Jeffrey Okudah casually dropped in conversation during his first press availability with the local Columbus media. He isn't shy about projecting himself at the next level in the same realm as those players, even though he has yet to play a down of college football.
“I know big corners have a lot of success. Just looking at the NFL: Richard Sherman, Aqib Talib. Those are some big corners,” Okudah said on National Signing Day. “And they're also regarded as the best corners in the NFL. I really don't think my height even matters.”
Like Talib, the Denver Broncos cornerback, Okudah is listed at 6-foot-1. Sherman plays for the Seattle Seahawks and is 6-foot-3. Any more, professional franchises want long, fast and strong cornerbacks to body up against powerful wide receivers one-on-one on the outside.
In recent years under Kerry Coombs's tutelage, Ohio State has become a factory for high draft picks at the position. Bradley Roby went 31st overall for the Broncos in 2014. Pittsburgh selected Doran Grant the following year in the fourth round. The New York Giants made Eli Apple the No. 10 pick last year. Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley — two more long and incredibly fast corners — are projected to come off the board in the first 50 picks of the 2017 NFL Draft in April.
“I think it just goes to show that Coach Coombs knows what he's doing with the cornerbacks,” Okudah said.
Is Okudah next? His mindset surely is in the right place. The highest-rated player in Ohio State's vaunted 2017 recruiting class, the Texan enrolled early to get a jump on helping the Buckeyes fill the void of losing three starters in the secondary early to the NFL. Shaun Wade, Isaiah Pryor and Marcus Williamson are also already in Columbus.
But Okudah's fundamentals, technique, fluidity and everything in between set him apart.
“[I'm] trying to get here seven days a week. Just trying to work,” Okudah said. “I know that I don't have too much to do here, don't know too many people around here yet. So I just come here, get as much extra work in as I can with Coach Coombs.”
Okudah is a long way from home and navigating winter workouts as he acclimates himself with college classes. Spring drills start in under a month.
“[He's] A, 1A. An A-plus young man,” Urban Meyer said of Okudah during an interview with Big Ten Network on signing day. “A 6-foot-1 corner, great twitched up guy. Great acceleration. Had a 10-(foot), 10-(inch) broad jump. That's NFL Combine explosiveness.
“He will play this year.”
Meyer is correct: Only 12 players at the 2016 NFL Combine in Indianapolis recorded a 10-foot, 10-inch broad jump or higher. Five of them — Jalen Ramsey, Darron Lee, Keanu Neal, Josh Doctson and Vernon Hargreaves — became first round picks. Okudah said he even tries to model his game after Ramsey.
So if Meyer is telling the truth and Okudah did drop a broad jump that measures 130 inches, the athletic cornerback with terrific instincts has the pieces to become the next top defensive back in Columbus.
With a youth movement at corner (again) and every player at the position aside from Kendall Sheffield — who will enroll in March, per Meyer — and Denzel Ward to have at least three years of eligibility left, Coombs and Co. are sure to explore all options to replace Conley and Lattimore. Okudah doesn't see any reason why it shouldn't be him.
“That's my intentions. I know a spot's open so it's all about competition. I know the best two corners will get on that field,” he said. “It's just whatever I make of it and I'm going to try to take the opportunity and run with it.”
One could make the argument Talib did something similar. Only a 2-star prospect out of Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, Talib went to Kansas and blossomed into a first-round pick in 2008. He is now a Super Bowl champion and widely considered one of the best defensive backs in the NFL.
Okudah's high school is 30 miles southwest of Talib's, and the two met during a skills camp when the former attended South Grand Prairie. It is safe to say they remain close.
My Young Bull!!! @TheJeffOkudah Appreciate it Fam! https://t.co/TGmvjhHK0M
— AqibTalib21 (@AqibTalib21) January 6, 2017
Congrats on the All-Pro selection big homie! @AqibTalib21 #21Savage
— Jeffrey Okudah III (@TheJeffOkudah) January 6, 2017
That has nothing to do with how well Okudah will perform at Ohio State. Or even if he will become a first-round draft pick in three or four years. The Buckeyes heavily recruited him to do just that, though. He is fully aware.
“I'm not really pressured by it, I just feel like that's the expectation. That's what has to be done,” Okudah said. “That's what is expected from me if I'm coming to Ohio State. I'm not pressured to do something that is out of my element. I just know that if I stay on course then that's the expectation of what I want to get out of this being at Ohio State.”
