Personal Background

Attended Sachse High School in Sachse, Texas

Played against University of Texas defensive lineman Charles Omenihu in High School. Their schools were rivals and both of are of Nigerian descent.

Originally committed to Iowa State before changing to Nebraska

Cousin, Dexter Imade played running back at Texas State. Another cousin, Deion Imade, played defensive back at Oklahoma State

Was “over the weight limit’ for running backs in little league, so he was relegated to the offensive and defensive lines until Middle School

Athletic Background

Injury History

Dealt with a strain to the sacroiliac joint in his lower back to end his sophomore season and he tweaked in going into spring practices his junior year.

Production

39 FBS games 2018 Advanced Statistics (Min 50 attempts) Touchdown percentage: 7.7% Yards After Contact: 634 Yards After Contact Per Attempt: 4.1 (15th) Broken Tackle Percentage: 29.7% (25th) 1st down Percentage: 33.5% (17th)



Fifty-nine percent of Devine Ozigbo's rushing yards came vs. 6-man boxes in 2018 Yards per attempt

Avg. vs 8-man box 5.9

Avg. vs 7-man box 3.8

Avg. vs 6-man box 8.8

Avg. vs 5 man box 9.8 65% of his carries over the last 3 years came out of Shotgun (99% in '18) Per SIS — Cover 1 (@Cover_1_) February 7, 2019

Film Reviewed

2018 Bethune-Cookman Colorado Illinois Michigan Michigan St. Minnesota Northwestern Ohio State Purdue Troy Wisconsin



Measurables

Year – Senior

Height – 6’0″

Weight – 219 pounds (E/W Shrine Game Weight)

Strengths

Weaknesses

Overall

Devine Ozigbo is a name that not many, including myself, knew much about until he started putting up big numbers in his final season. He showed incredible patience and a team-first attitude leading up to that moment and when the opportunity arose, he seized it. Ozigbo appears to be goal oriented and he met several of his goals set prior to the season. His goal to be the Football Lifter of the Year was accomplished and that hard work in the weight room and at practice began to show on the field. Ozigbo’s rocked up frame, incredible lower body strength and flexibility set the tone for his entire skillset. He excels on inside zone runs, where he can use his blocks as pillars, ‘walk around’ them or use his eyes and 219-pound frame to sell defenders on false intentions. This gets defenders to come downhill, insert into their run gap and to their dismay, Ozigbo will then jump cut sometimes one, two or three gaps and run away from defenders. Once he gets into the second and third level of the defense, forget about it. He plays chicken with tacklers by running directly at them, closing the distance then lets them “win” by displaying his ‘two-way go’ elusive abilities. He will get within a half yard of the defender who has him squared up, avoid a tackle with a tightly wound shoulder shake, a violent off-hand push-by and or juke in either direction. Ozigbo is rarely brought down by a single tackler, those that try, bounce off his chiseled aura, and are typically left on the turf. Once the train is rolling, it takes several defenders to bring him down and even then, they end up on their back.

“Watching him last year, he was a completely different player. He deserves a ton of credit for inheriting a new coaching staff, going to work, doing what we asked of him, being patient as we were playing some other guys and he was just in a rotation. And he persevered through all of that.” -Scott Frost

The question marks about how his lack of production and top end speed will translate are valid. These are a couple reasons that he probably wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. A source close to Ozigbo informed us on Tuesday that he was a combine snub. Our source stated that aside from the lack of production from his freshman to junior seasons, they don’t understand why he is being overlooked. As far as his speed, this source told us they expect him to run the 40-yard dash in the 4.54 to 4.58 range. Ozigbo is training at SPE sports in Boca Raton, Florida, to prepare for the draft process.

Aside from athletic testing, Ozigbo needs to improve his processing of defensive fronts. At times, his processor lagged when defenses sent late run-throughs that changed his reads or keys. The hiccup in his mental processing of the front would lead to indecision on his best escape route to get into the second level. This was also an issue when there were multiple pullers on gap type schemes meant to ‘hit’ up inside. Setting up those blocks in order to come to a final entry point into the line of scrimmage, seemed daunting at times. The proper timing and pace needed on these runs to set up blocks would then be thrown off and Ozigbo would sometimes be tripped up by pursuing defenders. While he is a decent receiver out of the backfield or lined up wide, when the quarterback threw with velocity, Ozigbo struggled to cleanly catch the ball. His most glaring weakness and one that is completely coachable is his cut blocking technique. Too often he telegraphed the block from a distance, giving the pass rusher more than enough time to avoid it. Cut blocking is most effective when done in close quarters at the very last second of contact to completely catch the rusher off guard. His timing simply needs work.

Overall, I have a third-round grade on Ozigbo. I believe his best fit is in a creative spread scheme if the team wants him to play immediately. But he will be a back who will show flashes in year one in a zone running scheme, especially if primarily based out of Shotgun. This structure will play to his explosive lateral abilities and help his vision as he presses the line of scrimmage. The tape doesn’t lie. We can sit here all day and discuss how his long speed is a question mark but his game tape says otherwise. He has the game speed to play with NFL talent and enough speed to take it the distance. Once on the field on Sundays, that will shine through. Also, he is very underrated as a pass catcher. Even though he may not look like a typical receiving back, I believe he has the ability to keep defenses honest on early downs as a receiver not just a runner. While I have a third-round grade on him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is taken later given his position, the depth in the draft, lack of production and question marks I outlined earlier. I think regardless of where he is drafted, giving him reps in year one will allow him to adjust to NFL game speed but the payoff will come in year two when he will likely be ready to carry the load full time.

Film:

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