Horseshoe Huddle

Colts 2022 Draft Interviews: Boye Mafe, EDGE, Minnesota

Meet Minnesota edge rusher Boye Mafe. We talked about his improvements in his college career, his his "Freaks" list status, and what he brings to a NFL team.
Zach Hicks|
Colts 2022 Draft Interviews: Boye Mafe, EDGE, Minnesota
Colts 2022 Draft Interviews: Boye Mafe, EDGE, Minnesota

Boye Mafe is a former three star recruit out of Hopkins High School in Hopkins, Minnesota. While he did have a few other FBS offers, he opted to stay close to home and attend Minnesota.

I asked him about the process that led him to the Golden Gophers out of high school:

By the time my senior year of high school ended, I was kind of closing down my recruiting and I wanted to stay close to my family. Coach (P.J) Fleck got the job in January and I had no relationship with him at that time. He never recruited me at Western Michigan, and I didn't really know who he was at that point.
I had to find a way to create a relationship with him in about two weeks or so. I ultimately decided to stay at Minnesota and commit. I first got there in June of 2017 and the rest is history from there.

Mafe is the classic example of a player that improved every single year in college, and his statistical output shows that. His sack total climbed every year and he finished his senior season with seven (6th in the Big Ten).

He also saw his accolades grow each year in college. He was an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention as a junior and finished off his career with All-Big Ten Second Team honors as a senior.

I asked Mafe what the key was for him to continually improve over his college career:

Film study was a big part of it. At the end of the year, I would sit down with the coaches and they would tell me certain things they liked about my game and talk about where I could improve. It was a collective conversation about where I need to be better at and how I can improve my game. Just about finding a way to fine tune my abilities.
Whether it was me finding a trainer or me spending time with certain drills, I was doing whatever it took to get better.

Mafe finished his career with 87 tackles, 19.5 tackles for a loss, 15 sacks, and three forced fumbles.

Feldman's Freaks List

Mafe was listed as a member of the Feldman's Freaks List this past offseason, a list that compiles the freakiest athletes across the country in college football. Here is what Bruce Feldman of The Athletic wrote back in August:

"He’s put on more than 50 pounds since arriving at Minnesota and weighs 263 now, up from 260 last year. Mafe (4.5 sacks in six games in 2020) says he did a lot of single-leg work this offseason in hopes of improving his footwork. His weight-room numbers are impressive; now the key is to take a guy who has vertical jumped 40.5 inches, broad jumped 10-6, run the 40 in 4.57 and power cleaned 400 pounds to make a lot more plays on the field."

I asked Mafe what he thought about his inclusion on this prestigious list:

It is definitely a compliment. It's not even just a testament to me, but it's a testament to my coaches at that point. My strength coaches pushed me every day when I was at Minnesota. Sometimes I'd see the weight and they would tell me to put 600-700 on my back and I was like, "Shoot, are you sure I should be able to do that?"
They reassured me and told me every time that I could do this. They'd tell me just to get up underneath it and I'll be able to finish the reps. They really helped me, and just having that relationship and trust of knowing how to push my body really helped me push myself to limits that I never thought I could go.
I think I came into college squatting like 430 and my numbers compared to that now is night and day. That kind of jump doesn't happen overnight, and it was definitely a team effort. They taught me how to work my body and I just pushed myself and learned from them.

I dove a little deeper into Mafe's work in the weight room. I asked him about the massive jump he saw in all of his testing numbers and how he would compare that to when he first arrived at Minnesota:

I think about it a lot, actually. From when I first got into the building to now, I wasn't moving the weight as cleanly I should be. When I got to college, I barely knew how to (power) clean. Becoming actually good at it was another obstacle I had to go through.
The biggest thing about weight training was just becoming serious about it. In high school, weight training is never as serious as college, so I think just committing myself to the weight room helped me grow as a person and as a football player tremendously.
I was relying on natural strength in high school, but when I got to college, I focused on building up my body. I think that work paid off for me.

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Development as a Pass Rusher

Mafe continually improved as a pass rusher in college. Just from watching his film over the past two seasons, it was easy to see the work that he was putting in over the offseason.

The area that I found myself most impressed was with the wide array of moves that he had added to his pass rushing toolbox. I asked him about that and asked why it is so important for a pass rusher to have a varied attack off the edge:

There's a famous saying from Bruce Lee that goes, "Be scared of the guy that practices one kick 10,000 times vs the guy that practices 10,000 kicks one time." Football, however, is all about tendencies and being able to mix up how you attack.
If I beat somebody one year with a double swipe or with a chop-club, you have to come up with something new, because they'll see that tendency and find a way to beat it. You put yourself at a disadvantage by not being able to change up what you are doing out there.
It's like being a pitcher in baseball, you have to be able to switch up your pitches or you will become predictable. Finding a way to always stay unpredictable helped me diversify my portfolio so that I could be a better pass rusher.

I then jumped into a little bit of film talk (you all know that I can't resist) and asked Mafe how an offensive tackle's set dictates what he does as a pass rusher.

I also asked Mafe how important it is to study film of his offensive tackle match-up as  a pass rusher:

It changes everything. You have to study the film and tendencies of these offensive linemen because you are putting yourself in a disadvantage if you don't. In 2018, I had a coach tell me that you could steal one every game just by watching film.
By steal one, he means a sack or a tackle for a loss and such. By watching film, you can realize what the tendencies are and what the offense is going to do so you can steal one every game.
For me, I study tackles all day, especially when I am preparing for them that week. If you are a jump-setter, for example, my pass rush progression is going to be completely different than it would be for a vertical-setter.

NFL Draft Outlook

I finished off the interview with the same way I finish all of them. I asked Mafe how he would sell himself to a team this offseason. I asked him what my team would be getting, on and off the field, if they draft him:

I'm a team player and player that can fit in any system. I think that my best ball is still in front of me. I don't think I reached my full capability in college, and I feel like college was just a glimpse of what I could be. I think that my best days are ahead of me and I will be the best version of myself in the NFL.

Mafe is a big-time riser in the draft community at the moment, and for good reason. He is a special athlete that showed improvement each and every year in college.

If you are going to take a shot on a player that may be a bit more raw, take it on one that has consistently shown the ability to improve. I really like Mafe's potential in the NFL and think that he would be a phenomenal fit for the Colts as a rotational LEO.

Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.

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Zach Hicks
ZACH HICKS

Zach Hicks is the Lead Analyst for HorseshoeHuddle.com. Zach has been on the NFL beat since 2017. His works have appeared on SBNation.com, the Locked On Podcast Network, BleacherReport.com, MSN.com, & Yardbarker.com. 

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