92 Days to Purdue Football: Mo Omonode

Purdue has had a lot of success when it has gotten local players to come across town. Today’s player was a three-sport star for West Lafayette HS that is now a true freshman for our Boilers.

Mo Omonode - Fr.

West Lafayette, IN (West Lafayette HS)

6’, 285 pounds

Defensive Tackle

2022 Projection: Likely Redshirt

For Omonode, I have him as a likely redshirt only because it is very hard to make an impact at defensive tackle as a true freshman. He still put up big numbers for West Lafayette as their premier defensive lineman after George Karlaftis left. He was also a teammate of Yanni Karlaftis. His teams went 41-6 in his four years at West Lafayette with a state title when he was a freshman. Twice they had an undefeated regular season. He led the state with 11 sacks as a junior during the 2020 season and he had 23.5 in his career there.

What i like about him is that he was a multi-sport star, too. He was a state runner-up in wrestling in 2021 and was a thrower on the track team. He also plays with a chip on his shoulder:

Consensus three-star recruit Mo Omonode said he was told at least 20 times by college coaches that he was too short.

Omonode was listed as a 6-foot-1, 260-pound defensive lineman coming out of West Lafayette High School, and after making the decision to stay home and play for the Purdue football program, he is looking to prove that size won’t deter him from a successful college career.

“It drives me every day. I hated hearing that,” Omonode said. “It was always ‘we like you, but you’re too small.’ It was always that, so it’s just motivation. I want to show people that my height don’t matter. I’m here because I belong here.”

I still think he redshirts because of Purdue’s depth up front, but as a multi-sport athlete he has plenty of tools to compete. He also enrolled early and went through spring practice this year, which is always a plus.