WEST LAFAYETTE – By his early teens, Purdue football rush end Jireh Ojata’s gridiron experience came from playing Madden on his video game console in Nigeria.
The Seattle Seahawks became his team of preference. Must have been a big fan of Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch, or maybe even former Boilermaker Cliff Avril, right?
“I just liked the jerseys,” Ojata said. “I didn’t really know anything about football. I didn’t know the rules. I was just pushing buttons, and I liked the jerseys they had on.”
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You’ll find few paths to the top of the Purdue depth chart more unique than Ojata’s. Born in the States but raised in Nigeria, he did not return until middle school. First played football the summer before his freshman year at Carmel. Played all of 21 snaps as a senior for the Greyhounds’ state championship team, then almost immediately blossomed into a Division III star at Franklin College.
This week, Purdue listed Ojata as a starting rush end opposite his former Carmel teammate, Will Heldt. In an effort to summon more pass rush, the Boilers turned to a player who had never been in a Big Ten stadium prior to the season opener against Indiana State.
“Obviously there was a lot of potential there,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said. “It was just a matter of how quickly he could reach that potential to be able to help us on game days.
“We’re starting to see where his potential is starting to be realized.”
Ojata looks like a Big Ten defensive end these days — a defined 6-4, 267 pounds.
Carmel coach John Hebert never coached that version of Ojata. As a sophomore, he stood 6 feet even and weighed 175 pounds. Topped out at 110 pounds on his squat in the weight room. Ran a 40-yard dash in the mid-5 seconds.
“When he came in as freshman he was just so raw and really didn’t know what he was doing at all,” Hebert said. “His 40 time and any measurement we could get on him was as low as could be. I didn’t know what to think.
“But I’d been coaching long enough even at that point that you never put it past a kid to make up all that ground and become a great player, and that’s what he’s done.”
Ojata played left wing in soccer back in Nigeria, but had no other organized sports experience before returning to the U.S. in seventh grade. A pair of future Purdue alums convinced him to give football a try. They were his cousins, Nathan and Josh Ebikwo, the latter of which also made the D3 to Boilermaker jump when he transferred from DePauw’s track program.
He thinks his cousins wanted him to try football for the life lessons, not because they recognized untapped athletic potential. Eventually, Ojata found a personal calling.
“I wanted to see how far I could take it,” Ojata said. “And I truly believe that if I’m doing something, I’d like to be the best at it. So that’s just the mentality I had. I just kept working at it until I’m where I’m at right now.”
Hebert said Ojata “wasn’t that far off” from being a Carmel contributor as a senior. He happened to play on a loaded roster. When all of the starters ahead of him stayed healthy all season, Ojata barely saw the field.
His physical talents — and Hebert’s recommendation — still helped Ojata find his way to Franklin’s roster. Yet even Hebert admits being surprised by how quickly Ojata played for the Grizzlies — and how well. He recorded 22 tackles and 1.5 sacks over six games in the COVID-19 affected 2020 season.
That production skyrocketed to a program-record 14 sacks and first team All-Heartland College Athletic Conference honors as a sophomore. He repeated as first team all-conference with seven sacks as a junior, then posted nine more last season as the HCAC Defensive Player of the Year.
“Before you know it, you’ve got this guy in D3 that nobody can block,” Hebert said. “He was a terror at that level and really physically dominant.”
Ojata put his name in the portal after that breakout sophomore year, but initial interest from teams eventually waned. Due to the eligibility leniency the NCAA granted for the 2020 season, he finished four years at Franklin with one more season to use. This time, more teams took a real interest — including a Purdue staff trying to replace the pass rush of departed transfer Nic Scourton in the aggregate.
Georgia’s C.J. Madden and Boston College’s Shitta Sillah also came over in the Boilermakers’ well-regarded transfer class last winter. The coaches knew whatever upside Ojata held might require a period of acclimation before it emerged.
“It’s our third or fourth practice of spring ball and Jireh’s getting his head knocked off on a counter play,” defensive coordinator Kevin Kane said. “He just didn’t understand the physicality of this level of football.”
Yet he recorded three tackles in that season opener against Indiana State. On Oct. 12, he sacked Illinois’ Luke Altmeyer to force a field goal attempt on the first defensive possession of the game. Last week against Northwestern, he stood up opposing blockers and recorded a season-high four tackles.
With Madden out for the year with injury and Sillah limited to one sack as a season-long starter, Purdue needs more pass rush impact opposite Heldt. Ojata may be coming into his own late, but it may also set him up for a strong finish. Kane said the growth from spring to now has been “exponential.”
“I knew him in high school, but he was not the same guy he is now. Just bigger, faster, stronger,” said Heldt, a Carmel freshman during Ojata’s senior year. “It’s unbelievable what he did at Franklin just to get the opportunity here, and he’s really taking advantage of it.”
Next semester, Ojata plans to finish his Franklin marketing degree (with a minor in accounting and quantitative methods). He’s also pursuing an African American Studies degree at Purdue.
School, though, will not be his only focus once this season ends.
Hebert said there was some question after last season whether Ojata might go directly to the NFL Draft evaluation process. Franklin coaches told him Colts and Bengals coaches had attended practices to scout him.
Ojata hopes his already improbable story keeps evolving to include a kid somewhere playing as his NFL team on Madden.
“I truly hope so,” Ojata said. “But right now, all I’m worried about is the next game, and the next game after that.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue football rush end was Carmel bench warmer, Franklin star
