Film Room: How Azeez Ojulari Can Improve in 2020 for Georgia Football

Azeez Ojulari is entering his redshirt sophomore season for the University of Georgia. Another year as a leader, Ojulari has some things to improve on.

A freshman had never occupied the role of captain at the Unviersity of Georgia under Kirby Smart until Azeez Ojulari did last year. He's not an extremely vocal presence around the facility or on the sideline, he's the quintessential "lead by example" type of football player. Though when he does speak, it resonates throughout the roster. 

In 2019, he led the team with 5.5 sacks, he is the leading returner in tackles for loss, led the defensive line/OLBs group with 33 total tackles and played in every game a year ago. Needless to say, it was a pretty good redshirt freshman campaign from Ojulari. 

Though there are some things still left for Ojulari to improve on heading into 2020, and Georgia's going to need them. It's not just going to take Georgia's offense to take a leap in 2020 to become a national championship-caliber team, the defense is going to have to get after the passer more frequently and force more turnovers than they did a year ago. 

Here's a full in-depth film review of Azeez Ojulari: 

Highlights from the session: 

Team First Pass-Rusher

Georgia doesn't blitz a ton, rather they slant and stunt their defensive line on pass-rushing situations. Meaning, instead of lining up their pass rushers and letting them pin their ears back, they oftentimes ask guys like Ojulari to set up one of his teammates by slanting and attracting two defenders, while the defensive tackle wraps around for a free shot at the quarterback. 

Hand Fights Really Well

The overwhelming majority of winning reps from Ojulari in 2019, whether it be sacks or QB pressures, came from him winning the hand fight. He does a tremendous job identifying the hands of opposing blockers and either swiping them down, simply denying them from landing within his shoulder pads. Without a punch as an offensive lineman, you are oftentimes beat. 

Points of Improvement

Bend & Burst

If I'm going to be critical of Ojulari, I will say that there's not a ton of explosive traits in his pass-rushing repertoire. NFL evaluators want to see pass rushers show burst off the line of scrimmage with fluid hips and ankles in order to bend and turn the edge flat and quickly in order to produce sacks. I don't see a ton of that just yet with Ojulari.  

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