Oklahoma State Adds Defensive End Obi Ezeigbo to Portal Class

STILLWATER – There are several aspects of sizing up a football player and by far, the most critical is by watching game and/or practice video. You have to see what a player is capable of, but another more basic aspect is just seeing a player in person and what they look like.  I am first and foremost about performance, but I also like to see a player in person. Before it became public on Thursday afternoon, I had the chance to see Obi Ezeigbo in person. I was actually in the reception area of the coaches level in the West End Zone when Ezeigbo signed his NCAA Scholarship Agreement, the piece of paper that binds Oklahoma State to providing the scholarship for him. He’s committed to the Cowboys now and told me after he goes home Friday morning he will be back around Jan. 10.

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

Ezeigbo happily signs his scholarship agreement.

Ezeigbo was there on the visit with his older brother and neither one of them could wipe the smile off their faces. 

“My visit has gone amazing. It is as good as I could imagine I could get,” Ezeigbo said. “Everything they’ve offered I’ve heard about it, and now I’m seeing it in person. It is everything that I think I need and want to get to where I want to go.”

I have to admit I was checking Ezeigbo out because here is a Division II player from Gannon, one that put up a bunch of numbers, but it is a move up to Division I, Power Five, and the Big 12. 

He is definitely a legit 6-3, 250 plus pounds and his story is one that fits the “Cowboy culture” even from as far as New Jersey.

Ezeigbo is a former state wrestling qualifier and All-League football performer from Ewing, N.J. He has one-year to play at his next stop after being an All-Conference player at Gannon. 

“I wasn’t recruited much out of high school, St. Francis and Pace (colleges) and  “Gannon came around early and my last two were St. Francis and Pace and I just came back to Gannon. I walked on there and earned a scholarship my first year and there were coaching changes every year I was there.”

Gannon University Athletics

Ozeigbo (33) looking to make a tackle.

Last season Ezeigbo had 54 tackles, 24 unassisted, 10.5-tackles-for-loss, 7.5 sacks, a fumble recovery and a pair of quarterback hurries. In his Gannon career he has 108 tackles, 25 tackles-for-loss, 14 sacks, a fumble caused and a fumble recovered. 

He told me that Bryan Nardo came in his 2022 season at Gannon and told the defense that he would earn their trust and respect every day and then work to do it again the next day.

“He doesn’t change a bit and the numbers speak for themselves, what he did at Gannon,” Ezeigbo said. “When I saw him come to Gannon I knew that was a steal for Gannon and then you guys stole him.”

Now, Oklahoma State has Ezeigbo too. You get the feeling, much like I did last spring with transfers like Josiah Johnson, Leon Johnson III, Anthony Goodlow, De’Zhaun Stribling, and Justin Wright that Ezeigbo is going to fit perfectly and do some special things in an Oklahoma State uniform.

We will see this spring, but he should understand the defense well, at least the odd man front part of it as he’s been in it before. He told me he also understands hard work and is ready to get to it.

“That weight room is amazing and it has everything I need or want,” Ezeigbo finished.