Eagles Moro Ojomo Delivers a Blast From the Organization's Historic Past

Still just 21, the defensive tackle from the University of Texas could be an unpolished diamond who arrived in the seventh round

PHILADELPHIA – For someone born in Nigeria, who moved to California when he was 7 then moved again, this time to Houston a few years later, Moro Ojomo sure knows a lot about some of the historic figures in Philadelphia Eagles history.

“I think getting drafted by such an organization that has such a rich history, I don’t think I could have come to a better spot,” Ojomo said Friday, as the University of Texas defensive tackle participated in the Eagles’ rookie minicamp after being drafted in the seventh round in April.

Ojomo recalled memories of watching some of the best players in Eagles franchise history.

“Funny enough, when I was a young child, I remember really loving Reggie White. And I totally forgot about Jerome Brown, and I saw it out there (on a picture that hangs inside the Eagles’ practice facility) and I maybe watched a documentary," he said.

"Brian Dawkins is another guy I was really fond of. Randall Cunningham. So, the Eagles, in hindsight, I thought they were a really cool organization, a really cool team.”

All were great players in the team’s history.

Ojomo would have a long climb to reach the White-Brown-Dawkins-Cunningham stratosphere, but he’s just 21, and, after a late start to the game, well, maybe the Eagles found themselves a truly unpolished diamond.

He started kindergarten at age 3 and then just stayed on that track after moving to the United States. It’s a track that enabled him to enroll in college at just 16.

Asked what he believed the advantages or disadvantages may have been by being a young teenager playing against players who were more physically developed, Ojomo thought about it for a few seconds.

“I think the advantages were I get to be younger in the National Football League, I got to get my degree at a younger age, and I don’t know if I would necessarily say there were any specific disadvantages except maybe I would have been a higher rated recruit,” he said.

Ojomo played all over the defensive line at Texas, inside, outside, and over the center. The Eagles aren’t discussing, yet, where they would like to see him settle on their line. It’s still too early in the process.

“I was just always ready to go to work,” he said. “I live life with a competitive edge in a sense, and I want to compete. I have one life to live, so why not compete, why not shoot for the moon and aim for the stars and do what I can do?

“I want to come in and contribute. I want to come in and learn. This is a great organization with a great D-line with just great people great culture, everything. I just want to come in here and contribute as much as I possibly can and ultimately learn and keep increasing that. I don’t ever want to be stagnant.”

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Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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