LT Olu Fashanu has been impressive in his first year as a starter.
That’s something I picked up very quickly.” He likes to bull rush, use his long arm and work other moves around it. For example, when we played Auburn, I knew that Derick Hall had a really good power profile. “I watch film on our opponents to pick up on their tendencies. “What separates me from other tackles is my attention to detail going into gameday,” he said. Fashanu believes his dominance on Saturdays was a product of his preparation during the week. His 84.7 pass-blocking grade ranked sixth among Power Five tackles, and he surrendered just one hit and no sacks on 281 pass-blocking snaps. Those first two years proved to be fruitful, as Fashanu emerged as one of the best pass-protectors in college football in 2022. He spent his initial two seasons at Penn State mostly on the bench before becoming the starting left tackle as a redshirt sophomore. My feature on the potential Top-? pick in 2024 who puts the “student” in student-athlete, coming March 31st! x /UjmLwlr5CZ One of the biggest reasons Olu Fashanu returned to Penn State instead of declare for the draft was to earn his master’s degree(!) They sacrificed so much to help get me where I’m at today.” “That’s something I always wanted to do both for myself and for my parents.
#Penn state white out for free
“When I was getting scholarships out of high school, my parents made sure I knew that even though I was going to school for free to play football, I was also going there to get a free degree,” Fashanu said. The last reason is how much they stressed academics, which is a big deal to my parents and me.”Įducation has always played a pivotal role in Fashanu’s life, something that was instilled by his parents, Paige and Anthony. I also always felt at home during my visits there. “It’s not too far from home, but it’s far enough that my parents aren’t expecting me to come home and do chores. “What separated Penn State from the rest was its location,” Fashanu said. Ultimately, his recruitment came down to three Big Ten schools: Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan. While Williams was a five-star recruit in the 2021 class, Fashanu was a three-star in 2020. He went out of his way to appreciate us and that’s the type of guy he is.” So many times, he’d buy the O-line meals after games. “It sounds crazy, but it’s no surprise that he won the Heisman Trophy,” Fashanu said. “While I was playing, I figured out I enjoyed football a lot more.”īoosting his enjoyment was the fact that he protected the blindside of Caleb Williams, who won the Heisman Trophy this past season and is the early favorite to be the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. “I really joined the football team my freshman year to condition myself for basketball season in the winter,” Fashanu said. I wasn’t really enjoying it that much.”Īt his high school’s freshman orientation barbecue, Gonzaga’s football coaches convinced Fashanu to give football a try, at least to stay in shape. “But as I got older, I was just the bigger center who was there to rebound and play defense. “All my life, I always played basketball,” he said in an exclusive interview with PFF.
However, Fashanu wasn’t finding the same joy on the hardwood as he once did as a kid. He originally attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., intending to play basketball. Olu Fashanu never thought his future would be on the gridiron.
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