Longhorns Country

Texas Football: Amid NFL Hype, Joseph Ossai's Main Concern is National Championship

After a monster performance in the Alamo Bowl NFL scouts have come knocking, but Ossai's goals at the University of Texas come first

Chris Dukes

Joseph Ossai flashed his high football ceiling at several points last season, but never more than his performance in the Alamo Bowl against Utah. 

The then-sophomore was named the game's defensive MVP after logging three sacks, six tackles for loss and nine total stops against the Utes in a dominant 38-10 victory. 

In today's NFL the ability to affect the quarterback is paramount to playing good defense and Ossai's breakout performance put him on most scouts' radar heading into the offseason. 

Some have even gone as far as to project him as a future first-round pick. 

While prestige and a big NFL payday would both be great, Ossai hasn't given it a ton of thought going through offseason workouts. The Nigerian-born standout still has things to accomplish on the Forty Acres first. 

"I want to win the national championship," Ossai said. "I've never won a championship. Coming out, we didn't win district in seventh eighth grade, high school, we didn't win a state championship. So I want to win the national championship."

Ossai got a look first hand at what a national championship team looks like. He not only played against the eventual title winner LSU, but had a star performance with three tackles, a sack and an interception. 

"I understand that what comes with a national championship, obviously, is a great performance throughout the whole defense and often so if our focus can be on winning a national championship, all those other things would take care of themselves," he said. Look at LSU and their, their roster and what they what they achieved in what they accomplished and how many guys they had drafted. So if we can achieve the same, we can go to the national championship, we can be dominant. We will have no no no doubt in my mind that I in multiple people in our team, being a senior engineer We'll get you started. So not worried about that just worried about winning the national championship."

Wanting a national championship is nothing new, of course. Every FBS team starts the season with that goal in mind. Ossai is spending every second possible to make sure he can live up to his goal. 

It's about being a man of my word," Ossai said. "You know, I've been saying, I want to win a national championship and whatever position I'm at, I want to be the best. 

"'What are you going to do to be a champion?' I tell myself this all the time when I work out."

Texas' new defensive scheme will give Ossai plenty of opportunities to shine. New coordinator Chris Ash is focused on creating pressure with his front four and Ossai will be a big part of that at the hybrid "jack" position. 

We want to be more disruptive," Ossai said. "I think this scheme gives us the opportunity to do just that."

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Chris Dukes
CHRIS DUKES

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