Tuesday, June 12, 2012

the recruit: Sadiq Olanrewaju

Name: Sadiq Olanrewaju
Position: OT
Hometown: Rockville, MD
School: Salisbury School (CT)
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 280

24/7: 84; three stars; #76 OT; CT #5
ESPN: 75; three stars; #92 OT; CT# 3; Atlantic #115
Rivals: 5.7; three stars; #42 OT; CT# 3
Scout: three stars; #33 OT

Other offers: West Virginia, UConn, Rutgers, Temple

Less than a week after Brendan Marshall broke the ice on the 2013 class, Mike London "struck again" as they like to say in recruiting parlance.  London offered Sadiq Olanrewaju in early March; his recruitment began to really hit its upswing shortly after as other East Coast schools started rolling in.  Then, just as quickly as it started for Olanrewaju, it ended - it turns out that UVA was basically his dream school.  I quote from Rivals and Scout: "You can ask any of my friends. Since late in my freshman year, I've always talked about attending Virginia." ... "It was kind of my No. 1 going into the whole process."

Olanrewaju probably would also have gotten offers from at least Boston College and Maryland had he not cut it short, and more eventually.  He's got a prototypical tackle body that colleges covet, standing 6'5" or 6'6" depending on who you ask, and he carries his 280 pounds extremely well.  ESPN also notes his "superior arm length."  There's no question he's got the physical tools.

That scouting report goes on to emphasize Olanrewaju's "dominant" run blocking skills but implies that his pass blocking needs work - though he has the tools to make it happen.  He's quick on his feet and a pretty good pass rusher on defense (but don't get any ideas - he's too big for a DE in London's scheme.)  It's not a surprising scouting report - pass blocking is so much about technique while run blocking can be done in high school by outmuscling your man.

Part of the reason Olanrewaju was so high on the Hoos from the start is because he's actually much more local than Connecticut.  He's originally from Maryland, and upon his transfer to Salisbury he reclassified back a year; this discussion implies it was at least partially because he started high school very young.  A poster claims he entered his freshman year at age 13, so even though he'll be a fifth-year senior, it seems he's really just getting back to his age group.

This is a light year for offensive linemen in the recruiting class.  UVA will probably only take three.  As of now, Olanrewaju is the only one, but I expect one more tackle to be added.  All that said, Olanrewaju's path to playing time could be a short one.  As with every O-line recruit, a redshirt year is ideal, but chances are good that in 2013 we'll be breaking in two new starters, which also means two new backups.  Those starters will probably (hopefully) be some combination of Sean Cascarano, Kelby Johnson, and Jay Whitmire.  Depending on who settles in at guard and who at tackle, the freshmen of 2013 will be lurking just outside the depth chart.  But Cascarano graduates after that year.  So there's a real shot at early playing time for this class's freshmen, and Olanrewaju could appear on the depth chart as soon as his redshirt freshman year and probably not much later than the year following.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sadiq really sounds like the prototypical development tackle. A kid with all the physical tools, and he looks to have the potential to add a good 20-30 pounds onto his frame. I'm actually sort of hoping that he is ready for the 2013-2014 campaign. It'd be nice to have a quality starter for 3-4 years, which we've had the luxury of enjoying quite a bit on the OL in the past decade.

______

OT, but I'm mildly intrigued by the reports of a Wisconsin shooter (Matt Thomas I believe) who has UVA listed in the final 2. Sounds like Bennett and Co. are pushing hard after him, and considering the type of player, the background (location) ... this sounds like the type of guy Bennett "wins" on. Of course, Iowa State is a finalist, and this sounds like the type of guy Hoiberg can win on as well, so it'll be interesting.

That said, with Barber seemingly out of the picture, along with most of the other quality PG options ... unless a sleeper really emerges, I'm not sure we really need to spend the remaining scholarships, particularly on a wing. Look, if a high quality talent walks down the aisle, sure. But the 2013-2014 roster already has (on paper)

4 bigs - (Gill/Tobey/Atkins/Mitchell)

1 combo forward - (Nolte)

4 wings - (Anderson, Harris, Brogdon, Jesperson)

2 guards - (Jones, Barnette)

Attrition might happen (although tough for me to figure out who at this early stage ... the wings stand out as possibilities, but Nolte could get some time as the 4th big man this year ... then again, if you could predict this stuff, it'd be that much easier).

Just doesn't seem like there's a huge need for a wing there. If we go after a wing, I'd rather get a dynamic athlete type to pair with Anderson. The focus, if anything should be on a point, but with Hall in the wings in 2014 as a possibility, we can probably scrape by a year with Jones/Barnette/Brogdon in some manner.