Cal Football: Femi Oladejo's Leadership Skills First Blossomed in AAU Basketball

Cal coach Justin Wilcox calls sophomore inside linebacker Femi Oljadejo a natural leader. Those qualities first began to show themselves when Oladejo took up basketball as a 10-year-old.

Playing for his uncle on the Predators in an AAU league, Oladejo saw himself as a defensive player first, of course.

“I’m just a vocal person,” Oladejo recalled. “On a screen, `We’ve got to switch, switch, switch.’ Kind of the same thing applies to football.”

Oladejo, who grew up in Elk Grove, played in nine games as freshman last season, totaling 36 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. He is emerging as a likely starter along with Washington transfer Jackson Sirmon at a deep and important position on the Cal defense.

Providing leadership is part of the job description, as Oladejo sees it.

“Personally for me, being a leader in everything in life that’s kind of my mindset,” he said. “If I see something wrong, I’m going to correct it. If it’s right, I’m just going to say, `OK, we can do this a little bit better.’

“So overall, yes, I’m trying to become a leader. Just got to keep developing as an overall player.”

Wilcox says he’s liked everything he sees in Oladejo since he arrived on campus.

“His demeanor, first and foremost, is very, very impressive. He is a leader by nature,” Wilcox says in the video above. "The way he approaches everything, whether it’s meetings, practice, his workouts, his life off the field, he just has a very special way about him.

“On top of that, the physical tools that Femi has . . . he is a big, physical guy. He loves contact, he loves football. He’s going to get better and better the more he plays. And he played really good for us as a young guy last year. He’s just got a very high ceiling and he’s got the demeanor and attitude that you’re looking for at that position and just as a football player in general.”

Oladejo says his experiences last year have helped make him a more confident and fluid player. "I have a better feel for the playbook now, so I can just go play fast. I don’t have to think," he said.

He believes the Bears can be better than most onlookers will probably envision. “We expect to be a Pac-12 championship team," Oladejo said. "That’s what we’re working toward every single day.”

Inside linebacker is perhaps Cal’s best position, with Nate Rutchena, Muelu Iosefa and Trey Paster also very much in the mix.

“Everybody in that room can play football. It’s really a good group to compete with, grow with and to learn from,” Oladejo says in the video above. “Everybody in our group is connected. There’s no hatred toward one another, no envy, nothing. It’s just all love in there. It’s a great room.”

The newcomer is Sirmon, whose 92 tackles last season at UW are the second-most among any returning Pac-12 player. He is the son of Cal defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Peter Sirmon, but Oladejo says it’s been obvious since he arrived that Jackson Sirmon will be an asset to the Bears.

“The first week or two I was in the weight room with Jackson, I just knew he was a worker. That caught my attention. I just knew from there it was going to be all good,” Oladejo said. “Jackson’s also a leader. He’s a great guy.”

Because the Bears have more talent at inside linebacker than outside, Wilcox said it’s possible one or more players could switch positions. That hasn’t happened yet, and it’s unlikely to be the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Oladejo.

“Right now we’re really focusing on keeping Femi at inside linebacker,” Wilcox said. “We feel he has the ability and the instincts and the demeanor to be a very, very good inside linebacker.”

Oladejo also says he can play some hoops. He and several of his teammates will sometimes venture over to Haas Pavilion or the RSF to play some casual pickup ball.

He views himself as one of the team’s better players. “I can get some buckets, too, coach.”

The football team’s best basketball player?

“Believe it or not, Robby (Rowell) can hoop. Quarterback Robby,” Oladejo said of the 6-2 redshirt senior walk-on who played three years of varsity basketball at Acalanes High in the East Bay. “He has a shot on him. Robby can hoop, for sure. He might be No. 1 on the team.”

Oladejo’s full name is Oluwafemi Moses Oladejo, and he explains in the video below the evolution of how he’s asked to be addressed over the years.

Cover photo of Femi Oladejo (43) by Jerome Miron, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo