Scouting Combine Cornerbacks: Okudah Leads the Way

Part 3 of our four-part look at the 35 cornerbacks includes No. 1 prospect Jeff Okudah of Ohio State, plus Utah’s Jaylon Johnson, UCLA’s Darnay Holmes and Auburn’s Noah Igbinoghene.

Part 3 of our four-part look at the 35 cornerbacks includes No. 1 prospect Jeff Okudah of Ohio State, plus Utah’s Jaylon Johnson, UCLA’s Darnay Holmes and Auburn’s Noah Igbinoghene. (Underclassmen are marked with an asterisk.)

Darnay Holmes, UCLA* (5-10, 199): A three-year starter, Darney had three interceptions as a freshman, three as a sophomore and two as a junior for a career total of eight. As a junior, he had the two picks and six additional breakups. Plus, he had a 23.1-yard career average with one touchdown on kickoff returns.

A five-star recruit, it took Holmes a little more than two years to earn his degree in African-American studies. In a feature by the Los Angeles Times: Steve Rourke, the Bruins associate director of athletic communications who has worked with the school’s football team for three decades, said Saturday that he could not recall another player having graduated in such a short span.” One of Holmes’ more memorable plays wasn’t an interception but a hustle play that produced a fumble. “He wants to be one of the best to ever do it,” his father, Darick, told the Los Angeles Daily News, “and he knows that in order to do that, you have to do the things that other people don’t do.” Darick Holmes played running back for Buffalo, Green Bay and Indianapolis over five seasons. Older brother, Darick Jr., was a running back at Arizona. “He’s a Kobe Bryant, he’s a Michael Jordan, he’s one of those guys who’s going to put in the work without everybody there,” Darick Sr. told the Daily News. “He really gets it. He wants to be the best.” It wasn’t always rosy, though. When he was 12, his father was shot seven times in a drug deal gone wrong. As described by the Los Angeles Times, he survived by pretending he was dead. “Just know that everything that’s thrown at me is happening for a reason, you know?” Holmes said. “The bad is always going to turn into the good.”

Noah Igbinoghene, Auburn* (5-11, 200): Igbinoghene’s lone interception came as a sophomore, when he broke up 10 passes for a total of 11 passes defensed. In 2019, he broke up seven passes. He’s a playmaker, with a 27.3-yard average and two touchdowns on kickoff returns.

Igbinoghene also competed in the long jump and triple jump for Auburn’s indoor and outdoor track teams. That’s no surprise. His parents, Faith and Festus Igbinoghene, were Olympic track athletes. His parents were born in Nigeria, with his father competing in track and field at Mississippi State and his mother at Alabama. Faith was part of the Nigerian women’s 400-meter that won bronze at the 1992 Summer Olympics. “They have a high expectation for you,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It can even get frustrating sometimes. We’ve had a few tough moments. My sophomore year, they’d always be saying, ‘You need to be jumping this. You need to be jumping that.’ There was a bunch of yelling. I guess all the frustration came then. But we let it out, and it made me better. But it’s so good for me having a parent-coach that you can go back home to.” He caught six passes as a freshman receiver, then made the move to corner and started immediately. “He loves playing DB,” Festus Igbinoghene told The Athletic. “To me, Noah can do this. Nothing is too hard for him, because Noah has been through hell with me. Noah can withstand any training with anybody; I don’t care who it is. Nothing is going to feel overwhelming to him.”

Dane Jackson, Pittsburgh (6-0, 190): Among active players, the three-year starter was fourth in the nation with 39 passes breakups. Two of his four interceptions came as a sophomore. He had zero picks, 14 breakups and four forced fumbles as a junior and one pick and 12 additional breakups as a senior, when he was second-team all-ACC.

Jackson was lightly recruited, getting offers from only Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Duquesne and Indiana State until Pitt offered at the end of a camp. “It really is (surreal),” the team captain told the Post-Gazette. “I think about it all the time. I have these talks with my mom. She says all the time, ‘It’s like you just stepped foot on campus.’” With experience came a penchant for making plays on the ball. “I think it’s just me being aggressive,” Jackson told TimesOnline.com. “If that ball is in the air or wherever it may be, if I see that ball, I want the ball.” At tiny Cornell High School in Coraopolis, Pa., “Action Jackson” was a rare two-sport star – an eight-man list that included Darrelle Revis and Bruce Gradkowski.

Lamar Jackson, Nebraska (6-3, 215): A three-year starter, Jackson had two interceptions as a junior and career highs of three interceptions and 12 additional breakups for 15 passes defensed as a senior. He added two forced fumbles to earn second-team all-Big Ten honors.

His path to the NFL wasn’t easy. With his father in prison, football would be the salvation for the 5-year-old. But he didn’t love football and certainly didn’t want to move from quarterback in college. As Omaha.com put it, “Over the past three years, he’s been broken, beaten, bulldozed and bruised. Embarrassed on national TV, threatened online, called out by coaches in press conferences.” It took Jackson accepting some humble pie to turn the corner on his career. “What do you do? You think. You cry. You sit there. You stomach it. By yourself,” Jackson said. “I’m sitting in my dorm room just crying. Like, they told me I was gonna be the man. They told me I was gonna start. I’m out here getting beat. Left and right. Getting pushed on my ass. I’m hurting. But I’m legendary? I thought I was legendary. So it’s f------ me up.” His height is a blessing; could it be a curse? “When you’re a bigger cornerback, you get [the] stereotypical knocks like, ‘Oh, is he fast? Can he transition well? Can he flip his hips?’ But at the end of the day, I’ve got a big offensive background, so a lot of my athleticism came from the offensive side,” Jackson told PressBoxOnline.com. “So when I kind of made my switch to defense, a lot of my hip fluidity and all that good stuff kind of came with me. So for the most part, if you see my game, that’s what makes me special. You don’t really get ’em like me every day, especially at this high of a level.” Google searches are interesting, considering there’s someone rather famous who shares his name. “It’s pretty much one of those things where even when I was in high school, I pretty much look at my name on Google for example and I see another dude,” he said in the Press Box story. “He’s in Florida, a kid that went viral, a quarterback at the same time I was playing quarterback. At first there was really nothing to it, but of course as the other Lamar Jackson on his football journey, he became a star. He won the Heisman. He became who he was. It’s one of those things where I’m just like, ‘The magic might just be in the name.’ He can have all the fame — he’s scoring touchdowns, he’s the quarterback — but for the most part I’m going to be in the league, too. I’m going to be living just as well.”

Jaylon Johnson, Utah* (6-0, 195): Johnson had a career-high four interceptions as a sophomore and a career-high 13 passes defensed (two interceptions, 11 breakups) as a junior. His three-season total was seven interceptions. He was second-team All-American in 2019 and first-team all-conference his final two seasons.

His parents’ hard times were a turning point in Johnson’s life. "I was a hot head when my parents were going through what they were going through," Johnson told The Associated Press during his freshman year. "I definitely hit a wall at one point and just realized I have to change who I was as a person. I didn't want to be that bad kid that had a bad attitude and people didn't want to be around. So I definitely changed my whole perspective on life and I just wanted to be better as a person.” Johnson wants to be the best, which is why he was up late watching tape on the eve of fall camp. “He’s got the whole package as far as what you look for in a corner,” coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He’s got size, quickness, great hips, instincts, ball skills, great balance, great closing speed. When you put together an ideal corner, he’s the whole package.” Johnson was a two-time member of the Pac-12’s academic team and graduated with a degree in economics in December. He received scholarship offers to play basketball in the Ivy League. One of his brothers, John, was a defensive back at UCLA.

Thakarius Keyes, Tulane (6-1, 200): Keyes had one interception and nine breakups as a junior and one interception and four breakups as a senior, giving him two picks and 17 total passes defensed in four seasons.

At Laurel (Miss.) High School, he was a basketball standout who didn’t start playing football until his junior year. Because he started football so late, he didn’t receive a single scholarship offer. He planned on going to junior college but, instead, decided to bide his time. Finally, Tulane offered. "He was kind of unknown and then when the new staff came in at Tulane, they found him on another kid's film and the coaches contacted me about him," his high school coach told WDAM. "The rest was history. I'm very excited for him." Experience and workouts helped make him a standout. “He’s just gotten so much better,” coach Willie Fritz told Nola.com. “He’s a different looking guy now. He came in as a 170-pound skinny guy and now he’s 193, 194. He’s tall (6-foot-1), he’s long, has control of his body and has gotten a lot stronger in the weight room. We think he can be a very good player for us.” He goes by the name “BoPete.”

Michael Ojemudia, Iowa (6-1, 200): Ojemudia was a full-time starter for the first time as a senior, when he earned second-team all-Big Ten with three interceptions and nine additional breakups for 12 passes defensed. He also intercepted three passes as a part-time starter as a junior.

As a fellow two-star recruit, he tried to follow in the footsteps of Josh Jackson, who wound up being a second-round pick by the Packers. "(Jackson) was in my shoes," Ojemudia told the school athletics site. "I feel like if I prepare like him and prepare to be my best every game, I can do well during the season." He majored in mechanical engineering in hopes of working for a car company, just like his father. “On bring your kid to work day, I used to go over there (Ford),” Ojemudia told the Athletic. “They used to do the crash tests and stuff like that. So that’s what basically got me eager for that industry at an early age. Just my dad bringing me there. That’s basically my biggest inspiration for becoming an engineer. (My dad is) an engineer at Ford. So that’s where I got my passion for engineering.” At Farmington Hills (Mich.) High School, he played tight end and linebacker and was all-state in the 110 hurdles. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about the move to corner. “I was doubting whether I even wanted to be here, to be honest,” Ojemudia told Hawk Central. “I didn’t really like the position. … I always wanted to be physical and just jam everybody. But you’ve got to run sometimes.”

Jeff Okudah, Ohio State* (6-1, 200): In 2019, Okudah had three interceptions – the first three of his career – and an additional nine pass breakups in earning unanimous All-American honors. He broke up eight passes as a sophomore.

Okudah announced his entry into the NFL Draft with a letter to his mom at The Players Tribune. “I’m 20 years old, if you can believe it — which means it’s been almost three full years since the two most important things in my life happened. First, in January of 2017, I enrolled early at the Ohio State University. And then second, later that same month, you lost your long battle with lymphoma.” Marie Okudah was diagnosed with lymphoma when her son was a toddler. She died less than a week after he arrived at Ohio State. “It was tough because I was far away,” Okudah told Buckeye Extra. “Not that it really mattered, but I was so far away and I couldn’t do anything about it. For me, I never dealt with anyone passing away. So for the first one to be your mom, it kind of hits differently.” He played through personal pain, too. He had shoulder surgery in January 2018. “I played with this injury senior year of high school, my junior year of high school and my freshman year at Ohio State,” Okudah told the Columbus Dispatch. “I’m kind of interested to see if there will be a change in performance now that I’m getting back to being fully healthy. I think it’ll definitely give a lot of confidence. You can go out and play knowing your body feels good.” This first career interception was a “monkey off my back.” New cornerbacks coach Jeff Hafley, a former 49ers assistant, made a strong impact, according to LettermenRow.com. “The first thing we did was watch all my targets from last year,” Okudah said. “He gave feedback after every single rep. After listening to him for that one-hour session, it was like: ‘OK, he knows what he’s talking about.’ And then, I listened to what he had to say, like his plan for getting me better. After that, I just bought in.”

James Pierre, Florida Atlantic* (6-2, 185): Pierre was third-team all-Conference USA in 2019, when he recorded the only three interceptions of his career. As a sophomore, he broke up nine passes. As a junior, he broke up four passes in addition to the three picks. He started for most of his three seasons.

Pierre originally signed with North Carolina and then Syracuse in 2016 but was academically ineligible. In 2017, he landed at FAU, where fellow Deerfield, Fla., native Devin Singletary was the star running back. “He was always special,” Singletary told FAUOwlAccess.com, “Growing up, in little league he played all over the field. He was always making plays, always scoring touchdowns. He was always around the ball. Just to be playing with him now, that’s kind of like a dream come true, to be honest.”

Get to Know the Scouting Combine Prospects

Introducing the 35 Cornerbacks

Part 1: Dantzler and Arnette

Part 2: Brother of NFL WR leads SEC stars

Part 3: Okudah cream of corner crop

Part 4: Louisiana’s lethal weapon

Introducing the 31 Linebackers

Part 1: Long name with a big game

Part 2: Oklahoma’s Murray a real lifesaver

Part 3: Queen, Simmons are cream of crop

Introducing the 34 Edge Rushers

Part 1: Unstoppable Epenesa, Baun, Anae

Part 2: Gross-Matos' incredible story

Part 3: Okwara and a lot of questions

Part 4: Thrill of the Chase (Young)

Introducing the 25 Defensive Linemen

Part 1: Auburn duo and dynamic twins

Part 2: Kinlaw and SEC stars

Part 3: Baylor's defensive lynchpin

Introducing the 20 Tight Ends

Part 1: Kmet, Moss and the Bryants

Part 2: Small-school stars Trautman and Taumoepeau, and five SEC standouts

Introducing the 25 Offensive Tackles

Part 1: Becton, D-III stud Bartch and Charles

Part 2: Jones and plenty of NFL DNA

Part 3: The Big Three of Thomas, Wills and Wirfs

Introducing the 17 Guards

Part 1: Bredeson, Hunt, Jackson and Lewis

Part 2: Stenberg, Simpson and Throckmorton

Introducing the 10 Centers

Big Ten’s Biadasz, Ruiz Lead Way

Introducing the 55 Receivers

Part 1: Aiyuk, Bowden did it all

Part 2: Duvernay, Edwards and Gandy-Golden

Part 3: LSU's Jefferson among TD machines

Part 4: Lamb, Jeudy top receiver class

Part 5: Mims leads Texas trio

Part 6: Ruggs, Shenault produce big plays

Introducing the 30 Running Backs

Part 1: Cam Akers, Eno Benjamin and J.K. Dobbins

Part 2: Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Zack Moss

Part 3: D’Andre Swift and Jonathan Taylor

Introducing the 17 Quarterbacks

Part 1: Burrow, Eason, Fromm

Part 2: Gordon, Herbert, Hurts, Love

Part 3: Tagovailoa and two Wisconsin natives