ESPN College Football Recruiting

PORTLAND, Ore. -- People remember Owamagbe Odighizuwa.

States of Recruiting: Pacific Northwest

To read more about Owamagbe Odighizuwa and the heralded recruits in the Pacific Northwest, check out Bill Conley's look at the area's top prospects and how the FBS schools are faring in the recruiting battle. Story

• Prospects: Oregon | Idaho | Montana
N. Dakota | S. Dakota | Wyoming

Not just because the David Douglas High School defensive end -- No. 37 in the ESPNU 150 -- is the most coveted football recruit in Oregon. Not just because A-list coaches like Urban Meyer and Pete Carroll are clamoring for his services. Not even because most people have a phonetic seizure the first time they try to pronounce his name. Go ahead, say it 10 times fast.

"People always butcher my name," Odighizuwa says with a slight grin. "It's happened so many times I don't even worry about it anymore."

On second thought, just call him "Owa" (Oh-uh). Everybody else does. And while complete strangers may recognize Owa because of what he can do and where he's going, people remember him because of who he is and where he's been.

"If you want to talk about the phrase 'Do the right thing,' Owa is one of those kids who patterns his life after that," David Douglas coach Dan Wood says. "He is tremendously gifted but he doesn't see himself as being special at all. To him, he's just another guy, no better or worse."

Owa is demure but confident. Quiet, but not catatonic. Hours before a game he'll sit alone in the locker room listening to Lil' Wayne in silent meditation. Then he'll prowl the sideline before kickoff exhorting his teammates to "Get up!" and "Let's go!" He's mature but playful. Polite, but not passive.

"Owa respects people, including his opponents, but he also doesn't back down from anybody," David Douglas defensive line coach Greg Carradine says. "And he won't let anybody outwork him. He's strong and fast and explosive, but his work ethic is probably his biggest asset."

It's a mettle forged in part by the steely resolve of his mother Abieyuwa ("Abie"), who works the night shift as a nurse's assistant on the cardiac unit at Providence Portland Medical Center while studying for her nursing degree at Concordia University.

"It's hard raising four kids on your own as a single mom," Owa says. "For us boys, we try to make things easier for her by just doing what we're supposed to do, doing good in school, staying out of trouble and just staying focused."

Nathan DinsdaleOwa has narrowed down his top schools to USC, Florida, Cal, UCLA and Oregon.

That includes Owa pulling a 3.5 GPA and looking after his three younger brothers at home, where the walls include a framed portrait of Abie and her sons alongside a crucifix and a photo of Martin Luther King Jr.

"I don't know how to say what a joy it is to see Owa be such a leader for his brothers," Abie says. "Owa takes the role of leadership in the house when I'm not here, and it gives me a big relief to know I have somebody who can stand in my place. I'm blessed to have the four boys God gave me as my sons. I'm the proudest mom on the earth."

But that doesn't mean the vivacious Abie is a pushover. Football star or not, Owa has to ask for permission before going out with friends. "If I say 'no,' they stay home," Abie says, "no questions asked."

Her eldest son was born in Columbus, Ohio, but moved to his parents' native Nigeria when he was 3 to live with family in a narrow brick house in the heart of Benin City, a rubber manufacturing hub in the southern part of the country. "It was really hot," Owa says of his time in Nigeria. After about five years, he returned to the States with his family, eventually settling down in blue-collar southeast Portland in 2001.

"I wanted my sons to be able to experience life [in Nigeria] so they could relate to some of the things when I talk about back home," Abie says. "It was a blessing for me and I think it gave them a good foundation to start their lives with."

An appreciation for their roots -- and an appetite for mom's homemade "rice and stew" dish -- isn't the only part of their cultural heritage the Odighizuwa boys took away. According to Abie, the name of her oldest son -- one of the nation's most feared high school defenders -- translates to "Peace, Love and Joy."

"Yeah," she says chuckling, "I know."

Mom is aware that "Oh, my God" are three words that might come more readily to mind for opposing quarterbacks who see Peace, Love and Joy bearing down on them like an F-150 in shoulder pads.

"Owa is just a menacing presence," says Terry Summerfield, head coach at rival Barlow High (Gresham, Ore.). "He's really a man playing with boys when you look at his ability to physically dominate a game. It's almost embarrassing how he can manhandle kids at this level."

Note the plural. Rarely is one lineman given the unenviable task of trying to slow down -- let alone stop -- the 6-foot-3, 235-pound senior from wreaking carnage in the backfield. In a recent game against Hood River Valley, Owa racked up nine tackles and two sacks while repeatedly fighting off double- and triple-teams. At one point, Hood River (Ore.) quarterback Sam Kopecky took an intentional grounding penalty by airmailing a pass last seen entering Seattle airspace rather than experiencing the alternate ending.

"You have to game plan around him," Summerfield says. "Whether you double-team him, do quick drops, throw more screens or just completely run away from him -- and I've seen teams do all the above -- because he's such a force to be reckoned with."

There's a reason the top college programs in the country have been jostling for position after Owa recorded 96 tackles and 18 sacks as a junior and tongue-tied scouts with a breakout performance at last January's U.S. Army All-American Combine.

At the height of the ensuing recruiting frenzy, Wood was handing his star player up to two dozen letters from Division I programs every other day.

"He has probably stayed more grounded through this whole process than I have," Wood says. "He's handled it extremely well, but when you have people making you sound like the second coming of Jesus, whether you buy into it or not, that's a lot of unfair pressure to put on a 17-year-old kid."

Then again, Jesus probably wasn't as explosive off the ball. Owa has earned other comparisons, ranging from New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora to Nebraska senior All-Big 12 defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (another Portland prep standout). And not just because of the dearth of consecutive vowels in their names.

"Suh could control a game and I think Owa is that way too, except I think Owa is faster and maybe a little more explosive," Summerfield says. "There's nobody certainly in our league who can even compare."

Not bad for a kid who didn't start playing competitive football until eighth grade in part because Abie feared she wouldn't be able to pay for his medical care if Owa was injured. When he did start his high school career, it was as a freshman running back and linebacker but Owa was, as Wood says, "a little lost in space." Wood agreed to let Carradine try to harness Owa's raw athleticism on the defensives line as a sophomore.

"He was really rough around the edges," Carradine says. "We just started with teaching him some of the basic concepts of the game, but he's one of those kids who will work his tail off to master whatever you put in front of him. Now he's totally off the charts compared to where he was at before."

On Friday, Owa played in his final homecoming game for the Scots (a 38-8 win against Sandy High). The question remains whether he'll be calling Berkeley, Corvallis, Eugene, Gainesville, Lincoln or Los Angeles home by this time next year.

"There have been times when it's been a little bit stressful," Owa says of the recruiting process. "But now that I'm at the point where I've cut down the list of schools it's actually been kind of fun."

Fans across the country have lit up message boards with speculation on which college will win the golden ticket. Well, they'll have to wait. With an official visit to Cal in the books and trips to Florida, UCLA, USC and Nebraska on the way (along with unofficials to Oregon and Oregon State), Owa likely won't make an announcement until January. In the meantime, he credits his family and coaches for keeping him on an even keel.

"They've definitely been a big part of that," Owa says. "I feel like I'm able to handle those things pretty well, but without them I wouldn't be as level-headed or as focused as I am right now."

When it does come time to announce his decision, Owa relishes the opportunity to finally cede the spotlight and embrace the relative anonymity of being just another blue-chip recruit in a program stacked with them.

"I'm excited about starting over and not being looked at like I'm the best thing that ever happened," Owa says. "I like the idea of being an unknown and being able to work my way back up in college and make a name for myself at the next level."

A name people will remember.

Nathan Dinsdale is a freelance writer in Portland, Ore.