5 things to know about Jeff Okudah, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft
Cornerback Jeff Okudah is the second Ohio State Buckeye to grace the top three of the 2020 NFL Draft. After the Detroit Lions traded Darius Slay to the Philadelphia Eagles (for third- and fifth-round picks in this draft,) they’re in need of a starting cornerback and Okudah fits that bill.
Okudah was named first-team All-Big Ten and a unanimous All-American selection during his junior season in 2019. He played in 27 career games with the Buckeyes and had 53 tackles, nine passes defended and two forced fumbles during his time in Columbus.
Here are five things to know about Okudah, who was selected with the No. 3 overall pick by the Detroit Lions on Thursday night:
1. His mother, Marie, died in 2017 after a battle with lymphoma, and he still honors her memory. At the beginning of 2020, Okudah wrote a letter to her, describing the moment he learned of her death, and the letter was published on the Players’ Tribune. “I’m 20 years old, if you can believe it — which means it’s been almost three full years since the two most important things in my life happened,” the cornerback wrote. “First, in January of 2017, I enrolled early at the Ohio State University. And then second, later that same month, you lost your long battle with lymphoma.”
2. He found a mentor in Slay, who was traded from the team that drafted him. Both are admirers of each other and keep in contact via phone and text, according to The New York Times. “He does a lot of techniques that I use, moving my feet good, staying on top, making plays on deep balls,” Slay told the Detroit Free Press. “You can tell he takes the deep ball away easily, but with him being so quick so long and aggressive, he can take away a lot of other stuff.”
3. Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley, who was a co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Buckeyes, sings Okudah’s praises and notes his size as opposed to other cornerbacks. “You just see the physical stature when he walks in a room,” Hafley told the New York Times. “Corners usually aren’t as big as he is. Usually guys that are as tall and broad and strong, they don’t play the position. And in the NFL game right now, that’s what all the wideouts look like, so you’re trying to find a guy to match up with them.”
4. Okudah was named first-team All-Big Ten and a unanimous All-American during his junior year at Ohio State. The Buckeyes made it to the College Football Playoff in 2019, but lost to Clemson in the semifinals.
5. Not only has he been said to be mature beyond his years, he also takes his family’s background seriously and looks to it for strength and humility. “I just got it from my family’s background coming from an African ethnicity,” Okudah said of his wisdom to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette . His parents moved to America from Nigeria in the 1990s and moved to Grand Prairie, Texas, where Okudah was born and raised. “That’s one of the things they focus on, just presenting yourself well because he have to make yourself look good in front of other people.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 7:39 PM with the headline "5 things to know about Jeff Okudah, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft."