Obinna makes name for himself
The Vindicator (Youngstown)

YSU senior Obinna Ekweremuba, left, works on staying low out of his stance during Monday’s practice at Stambaugh Stadium.
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s a typical story. Nigerian soccer player comes to America to get a civil engineering degree and, after watching football practice one day, decides to try out, eventually earning a starting spot for one of the most tradition-laden teams in the Football Championship Subdivision.
You know, typical.
In just three years, Obinna Ekweremuba has gone from a long-term project to a Disney movie. With hands like bear paws and the frame of an NFL defensive end, he’s made the transition from scout team player to sometime contributor to promising starter.
Now YSU coach Eric Wolford wants him to take the next step.
“We know what his top side is,” Wolford said. “And we’re going to continue to drive him until he becomes an impact player up front and that means consistently making plays, being disruptive and getting a pass rush.”
Ekweremuba (6-foot-3, 260), who hails from Orlu, Nigeria, saw his first game action last fall, starting the last six games at defensive end. He made 24 tackles, including an eight-tackle gem against nationally-ranked Northern Iowa.
“I needed game time to get experience,” said Ekweremuba (pronounced ek-WURR-ray-MU-ba). “Last season I had to step up as the coaches expected me to do.
“I’m getting better every day. [But] I’m not where I want to be.”
Ekweremuba is one of the most athletic players on the team — his position coach, Tom Sims, said he’d be a BCS player if he’d grown up playing football — but he’s easily the least-experienced. The coaches originally thought he had two years of eligibility remaining but since he enrolled in 2007, this will be his last season.
He needs to work on playing low — he tends to play too high when he’s tired — and on reading his keys, particularly against more complicated offenses. But that will come with time, Wolford said.
“Sometimes when we talk to him, we kind of forget he hasn’t played a lot of football,” he said. “Overall, he’s grasping it pretty good. You have to do things 1,000 times. It doesn’t come overnight.”
YSU didn’t have a player with more than two sacks last season so the team has emphasized the need to put more pressure on the quarterback this fall. But Ekweremuba (whose nicknames range from “Obi” to “Obi-Wan Kenobi” to “Nigerian Nightmare”) said he hasn’t set any statistical goals.
“Just get better,” he said. “If I get better, the sacks will come.”
Wolford, however, wants to see Ekweremuba become a household name.
Or, since most people can’t pronounce his name, a household number.
“We want people to say, ‘We better have a plan to block 90 and how to keep him from being disruptive,’” Wolford said. “We expect a lot from him.”