Obasuyi discusses his commitment to Pack
Obadiah Obasuyi is a 6-7, 295-pound athlete from Alpharetta, GA. The class of 2023 lineman committed to NC State on June 12th.
Obasuyi, who trains at Willie Anderson Lineman Academy, recently spoke with All-Wolfpack to discuss his commitment to NC State and long-term goals with the Wolfpack.
#AGTG I’m ALL IN and now apart of the pack. 💯 🐺 @StateCoachD @JasonKervin @CoachGarrisonOL @CoachSanders14 @BigWillie7179 @cm7sparq #WillieAndersonLinemanAcademy pic.twitter.com/1T4gpHhafO
— σвα∂ιαн σвαѕυуι (@ObadiahObasuyi) June 13, 2022
All-Wolfpack: What led you to pick NC State at this particular point in your recruitment?
Obadiah Obasuyi: I was on my official visit. It was just when I went up there, I already knew kind of what I wanted, what I wanted to see. NC State was in my top three. I didn't release the top three, but they were definitely up there, and it was really between them, Duke, Georgia Tech and Mississippi State and UCF.
I just wanted to find a place that was in a location to where it wouldn't be far away from my parents. It would be like a quick one-hour flight or five-hour drive. That was my standard.
Then I wanted a place that I would develop, because I've only been doing offensive line now for about five months, and even though in these five months, I have gotten training from Willie Anderson, five months, three times a week, and he developed me into a lineman -- which is why at first, even though I had the size, a lot of schools were not going after me and a couple schools did start reaching out and NC State being one, so I did respect that immensely that they did have that trust in me at first, they had offered.
Once spring hit and then people started seeing me in person, then that's when my recruiting really went big and getting up to unofficially visit NC State in May, that was just an experience. I loved it. I loved it right then, and I really cut my list down to those five teams then. NC State was kind of a front runner.
All-Wolfpack: How did the official visit seal things?
Once I got up there again for my official visit, I just wanted to decipher and see if these guys were genuine when I went the first time and see if I still had that same feeling when I went there. I did. I love the city. I love the players, and because I'm still new to this o-line thing, I want to go to a place that will develop me. And coach Garrison has developed several linemen already and just put up the number one lineman in the whole draft last year.
All-Wolfpack: You have some solid offers. How difficult was it to finally make the decision?
Obadiah Obasuyi: Duke is the obvious academic favorite and within the Power 5 them and Stanford are really up there, and the football side of it. It's a great program, but I felt like I could get much better development at NC State, and that's what ended up making the choice for me was just that at NC State, the education is still there and now I'm getting coached by a place that's not just going to coach me well, but it's an established place right now. Coach Doeren, he's been there for about 10 years now.
All-Wolfpack: How big was academics in your decision?
Obadiah Obasuyi: Academics are huge for me. I've already taken about eight college classes and when I come to stay, I'll be almost enlisting as a junior academically.
If you asked me this a year ago, I could tell you straight away that I wanted to go into the political science field and then head into law, but now as I've gotten closer to it has kind of faded away. I still want to do something in the area, but I started to realize that I enjoy talking to people and being around people a lot, so anthropology has been big for me.
Boom! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 #WillieAndersonLinemanAcademy #Recruiting @AHSFootball is on Fire . 2 book end tackles sealed up! 🤝 https://t.co/nyGddtJqNK
— Willie Anderson (@BigWillie7179) June 13, 2022
All-Wolfpack: If you have to bid your time when you get to NC State are you willing to do that?
Obadiah Obasuyi: Definitely. There are some older guys on the team, but it's a young offensive line. There's a good bit of sophomores, and even freshmen that are going to be there that are high talent. Just being able to learn behind them for a year is not something that I'm against at all.
All-Wolfpack: What is the ceiling for NC State over the next few years?
Obadiah Obasuyi: I think ACC championship, for sure. I think next year is ACC championship, and then following the years after that, a playoff run, I don't think that is improbable at all.
All-Wolfpack: You really believe NC State is on the cusp of breaking through, conference-wise and nationally?
Obadiah Obasuyi: A hundred percent.
All-Wolfpack: How are you picking up those signs?
Obadiah Obasuyi: I think the atmosphere is doing it all for it, so I think the players there, if you actually go there, they're holding themselves to a different accountability right now. The mindset there is switched. I don't know really what it was before, but when you come in there, you can feel the atmosphere of just that. It's about to be a winning atmosphere.
All-Wolfpack: NC State is offering several players from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, among other places in the southeast. Obviously, the Wolfpack wants to win recruiting in its own state, but how important is branching out to those areas in your mind?
Obadiah Obasuyi: Personally, maybe I'm a little bit biased, but from playing in North Carolina at my old high school that was a private school -- even though it's in Georgia, we were two miles from the border, and we played in North Carolina -- and then now playing in 7A Georgia football, it's a difference.
It's so much of a difference and there's, there's four stars and five stars (players) that you might see in North Carolina, but in Georgia, it almost feels like you're playing like college football out there.
I think the closest thing you get to it is Texas, Georgia, and Florida, in my opinion, and getting those players on the team, I think is going to bring NC State to a different level, and I'm not saying that there aren't North Carolina players that are just as good, because there are. There are several, but I think bringing that Georgia into the team is going to do nothing but develop it into a different level.
All-Wolfpack: What message do you have for NC State fans?
Obadiah Obasuyi: Even though many of them may not know me and may not know who this recruit is, even though I'm on Rivals as a three-star, some sites don't even have me ranked, just know that this program and the guys that are bringing in are going to change, not just NC state, but the whole conference and even though you have seen players like Ickey come out of there, it will be one, two, three, four, and plenty more to do it too.
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