Iowa football: Is Michael Ojemudia the next great Iowa corner?
By Andrew Wade
Iowa football fans have been blessed with outstanding corners the last three seasons. Could Michael Ojemudia be the next great Iowa corner?
Through four games this season, I have been incredibly impressed with the play of Michael Ojemudia. While most of the attention on Iowa’s defense has been given to the Hawkeyes defensive line, the secondary has been quietly performing very well despite the loss of last year’s unanimous All-American Josh Jackson. This is in large part because the redshirt junior out from Michigan has stepped up his game for the Iowa football team
The last three seasons (two with Desmond King and one with Josh Jackson) have been easy for Iowa football fans to identify who the standout corner is by just simply looking at the stat line.
This year, however, it’s been a little different. Ojemudia isn’t collecting a ton of interceptions, nor has he ever in his Iowa career (he has just one interception), but he is effectively shutting down receivers on the opposing team. Outside of blown coverage on the Wisconsin receiver late in the game in the 4th, Ojemudia once again had a fantastic game against rival Wisconsin.
What has impressed me the most though is not what Ojemudia has done in the passing game, but what he has done outside of coverage. He has made multiple open field tackles so far this season, which are never easy to do, especially for a corner taking on backs like David Montgomery and Jonathon Taylor.
In fact, his game against Iowa State, led me to name him one of the three standout players of the game.
Furthermore, he’s managing to get off blocks and insert himself into the run game, which is not something the NFL will take lightly.
Michael Ojemudia has had a fantastic game. Imagine that, a fourth-year junior CB at Iowa coming into his own as a first-time season starter?
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) September 9, 2018
In just four games, Ojemudia has accumulated 19 tackles for the Iowa football team.
WISC not messing around out there, loading up extra OL as TEs and trampling Iowa DL w/RB23 breaking tackles. Great job vs bubble by CB11, played that perfectly by taking outside leverage & closing on WR
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) September 23, 2018
He still has work to do as noted by Hawkeye Gamefilm, but his body of work through four games is impressive nonetheless.
Nice tackle by CB20 on the short hitch to the field side, closed and got the WR on the ground. CB11 caught by the double move and got beat there, WISC has struggled to move it in the air all night but have gone with those double moves a couple of times tonight
— Hawkeye Gamefilm (@hawkeyegamefilm) September 23, 2018
As he is only a junior, there is a good chance we get to see this rising star man the secondary next to another rising star Matt Hankins for the next two seasons, which could spell trouble for many Big Ten receivers.