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The best pass-rushing tandem in college football will be entered in the Capital One Orange Bowl.
They transformed the Michigan defensive front this season into a nightmare force that makes the offensive linemen lose their nerve and combined for 25 sacks. Hutchinson was second in the voting for the award.
Had anyone said that would be the case in August, one might have raised an eyebrow and asked, "David who?"
The son of a former UM player, Hutchinson was groomed in every way to become a star. Ojabo was only introduced to football in high school after playing basketball and soccer in Nigeria and Scotland. The junior had never started a game at Michigan before this season. I have never had a college bag.
Something changed between them this past off-season. The Capital One Orange Bowl is where Michigan will face Georgia on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The app is available on the ESPN/ESPN App.
One day, Ojabo walked up to Hutchinson with a statement, wanting more for himself and his team.
Ojabo told Hutchinson he would be in his hip pocket.
All day. Every day.
Prior to this season, David Ojabo had never started a game or registered a sack. He forced a school-record five turnovers with a career-high 11 sacks in only six starts this year, and is now an overall draft prospect.
For the last four years, Ojabo has been told how much raw talent and potential he has on a football field.
He was told to wait until he put it all together.
Ojabo nodded and understood, but that didn't help his patience as his first two seasons unfolded at Michigan. Ojabo was trying to learn what it meant to play football while his teammates made his assignments look easy.
He came to learn the sport as a high school junior. Ojabo dominated in soccer and basketball after his family moved to Scotland. In an interview from their home in Scotland, his mom said that her son was no longer getting fulfillment from playing sports.
His coaches began researching high schools in the United States that could provide a greater challenge in athletics and had good academic reputations. Ojabo had to meet a number of academic benchmarks to be allowed to leave.
He reached them all. Ojabo left Scotland at the age of 15 to attend Blair Academy in New Jersey, with a goal of one day playing in the NBA.
"He's someone that had a passionate drive, and you knew that if he didn't do this, he wouldn't fulfill his destiny," Ojabo said. It would not be good for him if you kept him back.
The College Football Playoff is upon us after a wild regular season. Everything you need to know is here.
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David Ojabo was living in a dorm room with a roommate. He gave himself a reminder when he cried or felt homesick.
He thought he was on a mission. At a young age, I left my family to make it out. All the pain and all that had to be directed towards that.
Ojabo had never run track and field in Scotland. He won the 100 meter state championship as a sophomore in a time of 10.93 seconds, even though he was 205 pounds. His speed and size caught the attention of football coaches.
His physical tools were obvious even though the hitting took some getting used to. Ojabo chose Michigan after receiving football scholarship offers.
He didn't play his freshman season. Ojabo only played 26 snaps in defensive packages last year. He had yet to make a start or a sack when the year ended, and Michigan had gone 2-4, its worst record in four years.
Something had to change.
If he wanted to be the best player he could be, Ojabo had to model Hutchinson. It meant copying his work ethic, study habits, and what it meant to put in the time and effort to live up to the potential everyone always talked about.
Ojabo said that he has the tools and the physical traits, but it's the work ethic and the grind that's important. You have to grind. You have to film it. I think it's the mentality. The stars aligned with my physical characteristics and then took off.
The son of a University of Michigan player made a personal goal to beat Ohio State.
When Hutchinson was a kid, he wrote down his goals in notebooks, which included playing at the University of Michigan, where his father, Chris, was a defensive tackle from 1989 to 1992 and won four Big Ten titles. Ojabo wrote down his goals on Post-it Notes while he was away. One of them said "America bound."
Ojabo didn't know what it meant to win a Big Ten title at Michigan until he arrived, but Hutchinson grew up breathing their importance. He arrived at Michigan one year before Ojabo, ready to end a 14-year Big Ten championship drought.
He had a source of frustration by the time the season ended. The ankle injury limited him to three games in 2020, and the losing record may have been worse.
After his injury healed, Hutchinson rededicated himself to fulfilling his own potential and made it his mission to pull his teammates with him to beat Ohio State and bring the Big Ten title back to Michigan.
If Hutchinson and Ojabo fed off each other and made each other better, it would translate to wins.
He was with me every day, even in the difficult days. He was working on his ass.
The defensive ends came up with a name for themselves: The Reapers. Chris Hutchinson asked his son if he had won any games last year. How are you making a name for your group?
"We know what we have in our room, and we don't care what anyone else thinks," said Hutchinson.
The biggest X-factor would be a new defensive coach.
Ojabo modeled his work ethic on Hutchinson, but they both knew if they pushed each other, it would translate to wins. Ojabo said that they feed off each other. You go up, I go under, I go up. We do our thing.
With Michigan struggling in 2020 and Jim Harbaugh under fire, it was clear that a change to their coaching staff was needed. Harbaugh hired Mike Macdonald from the Baltimore Ravens, where he worked under his brother John Harbaugh.
Macdonald's youthful energy and willingness to connect about more than just Xs and Os made players respond to him.
Ojabo said that he made the game fun again.
Ojabo and Hutchinson put in a lot of work during the off-season and Macdonald thought Ojabo could be a pass-rushing force. Ojabo was put in the same room as Hutchinson during fall camp.
Chris Hutchinson said that the whole thing started there.
He continued, "From talking to Coach Macdonald, they knew they had a guy who had a lot of raw ability, but hadn't been able to put it on the field and play a lot." They were doing everything they could to expose David to the right way. He accepted every challenge. They were always around each other. You hear Coach Macdonald say that he was soaking it in.
The turning point was against Wisconsin. Ojabo had a career-high 2.5 sacks and seven tackles, and suddenly, it was not only Hutchinson who could sack the quarterback. Hutchinson faced double-teams as the best player on the line. As Ojabo became a force in his own right, teams had to make tough decisions about how to slow him down.
Chris Hutchinson said that it has allowed Aidan some freedom and that the two of them have complemented each other. I think the reverse has been positive because it's easy to take one dominant rusher out of the way. It's a lot more challenging when you have two guys on the edges.
Ojabo has wreaked havoc in the backfield, forcing a school-record five turnovers with a career-high 11 sacks. He has started six games this season.
Hutchinson was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and is in line to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.
"To see David's growth since I've known him has been really impressive, and it's a tribute to him," Macdonald said. I think he realized what it took to be great after seeing how Aidan approached everything. The chemistry is real.
It was a smart thing to have someone to follow, and it's translated throughout the season. We feed off each other. You go up, I go under, I go up. We do our thing.
It goes back to their similarities. Their approach is nearly identical, and that has become obvious to opposing coaches as they try to come up with a game plan that works.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said this week that he spoke to coaches who have already played Michigan, and that one of the first things they said was, "We didn't take into account how hard they played, how much effort, how much want-to, how much desire." You can tell they push each other.
Over the past five years, OJABO's transformation from high school basketball star to possible top 10 NFL draft pick has been dramatic. His parents concede that their son has always had a knack for picking things up quickly. Ojabo had never had the chance to put it all together, so the biggest surprise is how quickly it all happened.
The first time Victor and Ngor traveled from Scotland to see their son play football was at the Ohio State game. The atmosphere was described as "electric" because you can't appreciate the crowd size or noise while watching from a screen at home.
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In the early hours of the morning, Ojabo's younger sister, Victoria, will watch the Orange Bowl from Scotland with her parents. His older brother, Victor, traveled to South Florida to watch his brother play football.
Victor Ojabo said before he flew out that it would be strange. It's going to hit home when you're in Miami. I've known for a long time that he can achieve whatever he wants. He has always been able to handle the pressure since he was young.
Ojabo will make a decision about his future after the season is over. The Big Board has Hutchinson and Ojabo ranked first and ninth, respectively. There are no hints about what Ojabo might do.
His dad said it was his decision. We support his decision whether he wants to stay another year or not.
The pair has put together seasons to remember regardless of whether he joins Hutchinson in the draft or not. Nobody outside of Ann Arbor could have imagined that.
Ojabo said it was just perseverance. At some point, something is going to break through. You have to find a way.
I know the work I put in and it hasn't surprised me.
