Chidobe Awuzie

Chidobe Awuzie
refer to caption
Awuzie with the Cowboys in 2017
No. 24 – Dallas Cowboys
Position: Cornerback
Personal information
Born: (1995-05-24) May 24, 1995
San Jose, California
Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight: 202 lb (92 kg)
Career information
High school: Oak Grove
(San Jose, California)
College: Colorado
NFL Draft: 2017 / Round: 2 / Pick: 60
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 2, 2018
Total tackles: 33
Forced fumbles: 1
Fumble recoveries: 0
Pass deflections: 7
Interceptions: 1
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Chidobe Awuzie (born May 24, 1995) is an American football cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Colorado.

Early years

The son of Nigerian immigrants,[1] Awuzie attended Oak Grove High School in San Jose, California. He played cornerback as well as wide receiver and was rated as a three-star recruit by both Rivals.com and ESPN.com.[2][3]

As a junior, he tallied 23 carries for 249 yards, 3 touchdowns, 13 receptions for 211 yards and 4 touchdowns. As a free safety, he had 58 tackles, one interception returned 80 yards for a touchdown, one fumble recovery and 5 blocked kicks. He received All-League honors.

As a senior, he had 138 carries for 1,285 yards (third on the league), a 9.3-yard average and 14 touchdowns (first on the league), posting six 100-yard and two 200-yard games. He also had 18 receptions for 487 yards (two 100-yard games), 7 touchdowns, one pass completion for 38 yards and 128 total points (first on the league). On defense he played cornerback, making 69 tackles (3 for loss), 4 interceptions (2 returned for touchdowns), 12 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles and 4 blocked kicks. He received All-League, PrepStar All- West Region, first-team All-Area and helped his team claim back-to-back BVAL Mount Hamilton Division titles.[4]

He practiced basketball and track. He had career bests of 21.7 in the 200 metres and 22-1 in the long jump.

He committed to play college football for the University of Colorado Boulder, over offers from other "Power 5" schools including Pac-12 opponents Utah and Washington State.

College career

Awuzie gained immediate playing time, appearing in 12 games, with 7 starts (six at the nickel position and one at left cornerback). He recorded 643 snaps on defense (third-most by a freshman in school history), 59 tackles (just the 13th freshman to record 50 or more tackles for a season), 5 tackles for loss, one quarterback sack, 4 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles and on fumble recovery. He had 12 tackles against the University of Arizona.

As a sophomore, he started in the first 9 games, before missing last three with a lacerated kidney he suffered in practice. He tallied 64 tackles (2 for loss), 8 passes defensed (third on the team), 2 interceptions, one fumble recovery and one quarterback hurry.

As a junior, he appeared in 13 games (12 starts) at a combination between cornerback and the nickel position. He registered 90 tackles (second on the team), 78 solo tackles, 4 sacks (set record for the most by a CU defensive back), 2 interceptions, 10 passes defensed and had a team-high 13 tackles for loss, making it the first time a defensive back ever led in that category dating back to 1969 (when it was first tracked). He was named to the All-Pac-12 football team second-team.[5]

Before his senior season, he was named to the Thorpe Award watchlist,[6] annually given to best defensive back in the nation, as well as the Nagurski Award watchlist, which is given to the best defensive player in college football.[7] He finished with 60 tackles (48 solo), 4 sacks (tying his own single-season record for CU defensive backs), one interception, 12 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles.

Professional career

Awuzie received an invitation to the NFL Combine and completed all combine and positional drills. He also participated at Colorado's Pro Day along with Ahkello Witherspoon, Tedric Thompson, Sefo Liufau, and ten other teammates.[8] He opted to only perform positional drills and had another attempt at the vertical jump for the 44 scouts and representatives from all 32 NFL teams.[9] Awuzie had private workouts and visits with the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders, and Tennessee Titans.[10] NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be a first or second round pick.[11] He was ranked the fourth best cornerback in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, the second best nickel back by NFL analyst Mike Mayock, the seventh best cornerback by ESPN, and was ranked the 15th best cornerback by Sports Illustrated.[12][13][14]

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert jump Broad BP
6 ft 0 in
(1.83 m)		 202 lb
(92 kg)		 30 5⁄8 in
(0.78 m)		 8 1⁄2 in
(0.22 m)		 4.43 s 1.53 s 2.57 s 4.14 s 6.81 s 34 1⁄2 in
(0.88 m)		 11 ft 0 in
(3.35 m)		 16 reps
All values from NFL Combine[11][15]

Awuzie was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round (60th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.[16] His selection is remembered by the intense speech that Drew Pearson gave amidst boos from the Eagles fans in attendance.[17] On May 11, he was signed to a four-year, $4.28 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $1.25 million.[18]

He missed most of training camp with a hamstring and ankle injury. He started in the season opener against the New York Giants at left cornerback, in place of an injured Orlando Scandrick. In the second game against the Denver Broncos, he had to leave in the second quarter after aggravating his hamstring injury. He would miss the next 6 contests while recovering. He started the last 5 games at left cornerback after passing Anthony Brown on he depth chart. He appeared in 10 games, finishing with 27 tackles, 7 passes defensed, one interception and one sack.[19]

References

  1. ↑ Okupa, Francis (2 May 2017). "Plenty of African players picked up during the 2017 NFL Draft". ESPN.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  2. ↑ "Rivals.com". n.rivals.com. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  3. ↑ "Football Recruiting - Chidobe Awuzie - Player Profiles - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  4. ↑ "High school football preview: Chidobe Awuzie carries heavy workload for Oak Grove". Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  5. ↑ "Pac-12 football all-Conference team announced". Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Awuzie named to Thorpe award watch list". CU Buffs website.
  7. ↑ "Awuzie named to Nagurski watch list". Ralphie Report.
  8. ↑ Gil Brandt (March 9, 2017). "Pro day results: Oklahoma, Colorado, Temple, Kentucky". NFL.com. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  9. ↑ Ryan Megay (March 8, 2017). "Setting Attendance At CU Pro Timing Day". cubuffs.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Walter Football: 2017 NFL Draft Prospect Workouts/Visits". Walterfootball.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  11. 1 2 "NFL Draft Profile: Chidobe Awuzie". NFL.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  12. ↑ Chris Burke (April 24, 2017). "2017 NFL Draft Rankings: Top Prospects by Position". si.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  13. ↑ Jeff Legwold (April 22, 2017). "Ranking draft's top 100 players". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  14. ↑ Mike Mayock (April 12, 2017). "Mike Mayock's 2017 NFL Draft position rankings 3.0". NFL.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Chidobe Awuzie, DS #4 CB, Colorado". nfldraftscout.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  16. ↑ Daniels, Kurt (April 28, 2017). "How Second-Round Pick Chidobe Awuzie Will Fit Into Defensive Plans". DallasCowboys.com.
  17. ↑ "Drew Pearson trolls Philly at 2017 Draft". LA Times. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Spotrac.com: Chidobe Awuzie contract". spotrac.com. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  19. ↑ "NFL Player stats: Chidobe Awuzie (2017)". NFL.com. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
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