Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz joined Broncos Country Tonight to talk with Ryan Edwards and Benjamin Allbright about Denver’s most recent addition from the University of Iowa, cornerback Michael Ojemudia.
“That’s just part of their pedigree. These guys are going to tackle, they’re tough, they’re going to be good workers.”
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) April 25, 2020
DC Ed Donatell knows what he’s getting in @HawkeyeFootball CB @GotMo_J. pic.twitter.com/HQkQKks0GK
Ferentz said Ojemudia actually struggled a little bit both on the field and in the classroom as he came in his freshman year pursuing and engineering degree, which isn’t exactly a cake walk of a degree to get while dedicating significant amounts of time to football as well.
However, Ferentz said from that point on, Ojemudia just continued to battle both on the field and in the classroom and the coach said each year they saw marked improvement from the young player and that he “really played his best football these past two years.”
An interesting point the coach also brought up was that they had considered at one point playing Ojemudia at safety, but he was just to valuable to them at corner for them to make the move, but that he believes Ojemudia has the skills to play either position.
Opposing QBs had a 55 passer rating when targeting Michael Ojemudia at Iowa. That’ll do.
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) April 25, 2020
“He’s got the size where he could play inside, good cover skills that way, and he’s obviously a very good athlete.”
Who knows if Denver is thinking about Ojemudia in that way, but it’s nice know he has the versatility to potentially shift over there, or if nothing else be able to use those skills on the outside or in the slot.
Michael Ojemudia is 100% a Fangio cornerback. Ton of off zone. Eyes on QB. Iowa CBs usually are discipline in zone coverage. Not sure if they can play man but he has upside
— CrockTIME (@eric_crocker) April 25, 2020
Ferentz also talked a little bit about Noah Fant who came out of Iowa last year and just stressed his belief that Fant is just getting started and will continue to get better and better at the next level.
That was the theme for both Ojemudia and Fant, he believes they’ll both just continue to grow and keep the trajectory he saw them on at Iowa.
Between Josey Jewell, Noah Fant, and now Ojemudia, the Iowa pipeline is certainly established to Denver. Ferentz said he’ll be rooting for the Broncos this year and is eager to watch his guys perform in the NFL.
Check out the full interview here, or in the player above.