Westhill’s David Ojabo says he’s putting his full trust in the Baltimore Ravens’ “world-class” medical team, but is hoping he’ll be ready for his National Football League debut before the end of 2022.
The 21-year-old Aberdeenshire-raised phenomenon was speaking to the Press and Journal from the Ravens’ enormous Under Armour Performance Centre – in his first interview with the Scottish press since April’s NFL Draft.
After a breakout season with college side Michigan last year, the Ravens came calling for Ojabo in the second round of last month’s draft, making the outside linebacker the 45th overall pick in emotional scenes.
It was the latest step of a Hollywood-like journey in the sport for Ojabo, who only took up American football after swapping the International School of Aberdeen for boarding school in New Jersey in 2017.
Ojabo – previously a nailed-on first-round pick – was only still available on the second day of the draft as he is rehabbing a torn left Achilles suffered at the Michigan Wolverines’ pro day showcase in March.
Now, having joined the Ravens, he’s working furiously to get back to fitness – perhaps in time to be involved for his new team at some point in 2022.
Ojabo, whose tendon was surgically repaired by a doctor who previously operated on basketball icon Kevin Durant, said: “We’re putting full attention on the Achilles and my conditioning.
“I trust in the staff wholeheartedly, so I just do as I’m told and trust they’ll get me back.”
Revealing he’s reached the stage where he is pain-free and working on getting the flexibility back in the Achilles, he added: “The main goal is to get back to 100%. To put a time on it would be doing myself a disservice.
“When I feel 100%, that’s when I’ll be back. To say four, five months… you can’t predict the future.
“I wish I could predict the future. It’s the league, the NFL – you want to play. Obviously I hope I play this season. I pray!
“But that’s above me and my only focus right now is to get the Achilles back.
“The season’s still four or five months away, so I’ll just focus on what I can control.”
Well-wishes flooded in as Ojabo gets settled in Baltimore with familiar faces
Ojabo was ‘flooded’ with messages from across the globe in the aftermath of the draft, with plenty of well-wishers from both Nigeria – the country of his birth – and Scotland, including the north-east.
Reflecting back on April’s uniquely American sporting set-piece, he agrees with pundits and even mum Ngor that the Ravens was a perfect, almost fated place to wind up.
He said: “It was really overwhelming, especially being around my family, my friends and the people who raised me. I can’t compare (anything) to that moment.
“I was just sat there, I knew it was going to happen and it was just a matter of when. And thank God, he brought me to the perfect organisation.”
"It's like a dream."
Inside the emotional Draft call to @DavidOjabo 🥺️
NFL Draft coverage on NFL Network, ABC and ESPN. pic.twitter.com/FHtVEm0dgJ
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) April 30, 2022
In his early weeks in Baltimore, Ojabo has found it to be as welcoming as Michigan, with ‘cool people, calm people’ and a ‘family environment’.
While he has already had the ‘weird’ experience of being spotted by fans at grocery stores in his time away from the Ravens facility – an early indication of what being a NFL player will be like – the two-time Superbowl-winning organisation’s nerve-centre has impressed him.
Ojabo noted ‘endless’ resources in the professional ranks, adding: “It’s all high-level stuff. It’s the top of the top and we’re at the highest level. From the players, to the facility, to the technology. Everything.”
The reason the Ravens felt like such a good fit for Ojabo was due to existing relationships there.
On the coaching side, the Baltimore defensive co-ordinator Mike MacDonald – or ‘Coach Mac’ – formerly helped Ojabo take his game up a notch and become a key player for Michigan. It’s the same with ‘Coach Oz’ – Ryan Osborn.
John Harbaugh, the Ravens’ head coach, is the brother of his former Wolverines boss Jim.
While initial impressions are the Harbaughs are ‘pretty similar’ in their work and mannerisms, the familiarity of the defensive personnel and tactics are a comfort to Ojabo while he continues to get himself fit to play.
He explained: “In the meeting room I’m right next to Coach Oz like I always was in Michigan.
“We’re back in our meeting room with Coach Mac (Mike McDonald) and the whole defence – the same way he was teaching us at Michigan.
“I joke with my people I’ve gone from Michigan to Michigan.
Coach Harbaugh on his excitement to get guys back: pic.twitter.com/bryWteOnkV
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 25, 2022
“The adjustment’s been perfect. I really can’t complain.
“There’s no real learning curve for the scheme. It is quite literally what I just came from a couple of months ago.
“There’s some comfort in that, which allows me to really hone in on this recovery for my Achillles. And, day-by-day, I know it’s going to work out.”
At the same time, Ojabo is relishing linking up on the field with his former boarding school buddy Odafe Oweh, who is another outside linebacker with Baltimore.
Oweh was the example Ojabo followed at Blair Academy in New Jersey when the coach there, Jim Saylor, convinced the north-east native to switch his sporting ambitions to gridiron.
This week, as the Ravens began to spark into life again with their OTA (optional/voluntary early pre-season training), Oweh spoke excitedly about the reunion with Ojabo.
"That's my long time friend.. He's gotten me through a lot of stuff."@DafeOweh on reuniting with @DavidOjabo pic.twitter.com/kJwLD6ab6q
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 25, 2022
For Ojabo, the feeling is mutual – although he revealed, despite “clowning around” on draft weekend, he hasn’t moved in with his old school friend.
“We definitely need our own space!” he said.
Ojabo views the pair’s fortunes as another example of a higher plan, adding: “I think that’s when it’ll really settle in – We’re here, we’re in the leagues, we’re living the dream, (but) when me and my guy strap it up and get back to old times.”
Ojabo talks up ‘dog mentality’, saying ‘I haven’t even started’
Some people might think, for Ojabo, the pressure is off.
He’s made it to the NFL, where the wages and public profile involved are life-changing.
However, having come so far – and so quickly, complacency isn’t a trait the 21-year-old is going to start showing now.
He said: “You always have to have the dog mentality. That’s how you get (places).
“As soon as you get complacent, that’s when other people who are hungrier than you pass you.
“I haven’t even started. I’ve only played – if we’re being real – three seasons of football on the field. Two in high school, one in college.
“The guys here have been playing since they could physically play – five or six years old – so I’ve got some mileage in me.”
Ojabo’s excitement and determination to seize his NFL chance is growing with every passing day as the Ravens’ proper pre-season training – or ‘camp’ – draws closer.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 25, 2022
They’re a side who made the end-of-season play-offs for three consecutive seasons until missing out last season, but they also haven’t been to a Superbowl since claiming their second in 2012.
Every time I speak with Ojabo, we agree there’s always been another “big leap” in his meteoric American football rise.
So, notwithstanding when he himself is ready to take to the field, how far can the Ravens go this season?
“The sky’s the limit. We have all the pieces, a great head coach and a great scheme. We just need to do as we’re told, execute and why not? Why not go all the way?”