How former Penn State football DE Odafe Oweh plans to make his mark as a Baltimore Raven
Odafe Oweh’s reaction to seeing his name called in the 2021 NFL Draft aired on ESPN, the NFL Network and could be found with relative ease on Twitter. The former Nittany Lion was dancing — surrounded by friends and family — and that occasion led him to make a decision about what he would be called going forward.
“I hadn’t planned (to go by Odafe),” Oweh told the Centre Daily Times. “I was talking to a bunch of people after I got drafted, I was really emotional. I was just so excited to start the next stage of my life. I was around my family and everyone was calling me by my first name (Odafe). ... I was around my real, real family. I love my middle name, but I was surrounded by so much culture and family. I wanted to bring that and showcase that in the next stage of my life, which is ultimately going to be my identity.”
Oweh, who went by Jayson — his middle name — from the third grade until he was drafted on April 30, will go by Odafe moving forward. He’ll have a chance to make it a household name moving forward as he continues growing as an EDGE in the NFL and blossoms with the Baltimore Ravens.
His dancing came after the Baltimore Ravens selected him with the No. 31 overall pick in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. It was the result of the weight that his shoulders carried over several months lifting off his body and the nerves that he carried leaving him all at once in celebration.
“Those first 30 picks was probably the most anxiety-driven time of my life,” Oweh said. “... It was just so much pressure released from my shoulders and I was just so excited. It was so much excitement. I can’t even put it into words.”
It’s reasonable to be nervous leading up to the biggest moment of your career, as Oweh was, but he’s been prepared for it for months. He knew that when he made the decision to leave Penn State after his redshirt sophomore year.
“I had to understand if I was ready for this step physically and mentally,” he said. “I felt like I was. I felt like I was at the peak of my physical abilities and I could take it to the next level.”
The former Nittany Lion had plenty of competition in practice, as well, to help him improve in his time at Penn State leading up to his departure.
Former teammate Will Fries, who was taken by the Indianapolis Colts in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL draft, frequently combated with Oweh in practice and knows their time facing each other — with Fries at offensive tackle and Oweh at defensive end — helped both improve.
“He’s a really explosive guy,” Fries told the CDT. “He has the elite combination of speed and size. He was getting better every single day, working on different moves. We had some really good battles at practice. He’s a really, really good player.”
The decision to leave came despite the fact that he posted zero sacks during Penn State’s nine-game 2020 season. His lack of sack production was a sticking point among some draft analysts.
Still, the film doesn’t lie about Oweh’s ability as a pass rusher. He may not have brought the quarterback down, but he was a split second away several times. He nearly had three sacks alone in the Nittany Lions’ season opener against Indiana, but IU quarterback Michael Penix took the snap and got rid of the ball quickly each time.
Oweh is ready to prove those who cited his lack of sacks wrong and knows what he can do when he’s attacking off the edge.
“People were talking about the sack thing, but there were a lot of those instances where it could have gone the other way,” Oweh said. “It just was a motivation thing for me. I felt inspired that that’s all they were talking about. ... I love having opportunities to prove people wrong and just continue to get better.”
He’ll have plenty of time to improve his game and show he’s not just an athlete playing football. Being a football player is now a full-time job rather than part of his experience as a student-athlete at Penn State.
He’s already noticed the differences between life without classes and is planning on taking full advantage of the time he has to get better on the field.
“Every little thing you do is investing in yourself and your future,” Oweh said. “At Penn State we worked hard and we wanted to win on the field, but also we wanted to do good in the classroom. If you’re in the classroom, you can’t always put everything onto the field and vice versa. But this is our job now and I love being able to get better every single day.”
That time should only lead to vast improvement for the EDGE who ran a 4.36 40-yard dash and boasts freakish athleticism. He will have more than enough hours to go from a pass rusher to an all-around player with the Ravens, although chasing the quarterback will still be a priority.
Oweh will be playing as a stand-up EDGE in the Ravens’ defense and won’t have his hand in the dirt like he did as a Nittany Lion. He says he’s still learning how to maximize himself with the change in stance but loves what it will do for his game, especially when it comes to versatility.
His ability to grow as a run defender and potentially in pass coverage will be important to his development in the NFL. In the end, he wants to be just as good at those things as he is at rushing the passer — and wants to make that a staple of who he is as a professional football player.
“I want to be an all-around elite player,” Oweh said. “I’m tired of being just a pass rush specialist. ... I wanna just bring it all together and just be a complete player, be a smart player. I feel like I can do that here.”
