Feb. 29--Micah Awodiran thought his recruiting had finally started to slow down.
The Marist junior linebacker was ready to focus on his daily training sessions and build toward next season in hopes of erasing the pain from last season's 41-0 loss to Loyola in the Class 8A state championship game.
"I thought I had a few things squared away and a good thought process in place and things were slowing down in my recruiting," Awodiran said, "but (the week of Feb. 14-20) I received an offer every day from Monday to Friday. That flipped everything around. I'll try and get to as many schools as I can and see what they have to offer and try to whittle it down. It's going to be a tough process."
At 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds with a nonstop motor and hard-hitting style, Awodiran has seen his recruiting stock rise considerably since receiving his first offer from Miami (Ohio) on Christmas. He has offers from Indiana, Illinois, Boston College, Minnesota and Iowa State among his 13 offers.
"It's been something that has picked up so fast that I didn't know what to do or how to handle it," Awodiran said. "It's been one of the craziest things that I've experienced and been so surreal. In December, I wasn't really well known. At this point last year, I wanted to get Marist football back to what it was in past years. I was so focused on that, and am even now so focused on getting back to the state championship game and winning it."
Awodiran had seven tackles in the 8A final to finish his junior season with 126 stops and four sacks. Marist coach Pat Dunne said Awodiran's physical gifts are just part of the reason for the latest push by colleges seeking his services.
"he is a team-first player," Dunne said of Awodiran. "He's a great leader. He has great physical tools. He's very fast and has a great burst and motor. He's a great athlete and covers a lot of ground in space. This past year he did a great job stuffing the run up in the middle, but he ran sideline-to-sideline chasing guys down and shedding blocks. He's explosive when you watch him on film."
A former running back, Awodiran might return to his roots for his senior year. The RedHawks had a steady supply of talented runners last season, but without running back Darshon McCullough or quarterback Brendan Skalitzky carrying the load next season, Awodiran should receive some carries, Dunne said.
"At times he asked to play running back last season," Dunne said. "We were fortunate to have some other players on the offensive side of the ball, but this coming year he could see some carries."
Awodiran's future is on the defensive side, but he's excited to run behind Marist's offensive line next season.
"I don't care where they put me on the field as long as it helps the team win, but getting back to running back is the first reason that I played at Marist, and that will be fun," he said. "We have a real big offensive line. It will be fun to run behind those big guys. My skill set leaned toward defense because I was a physical guy. I played running back and linebacker growing up, but it was about which one I could develop at faster and linebacker seemed to be the better fit for me."
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
