11 Days Until Kansas Football: Video Game All-Stars - Hakeem Adeniji
The return of the NCAA Football video game is scheduled for next summer, and that gives us the perfect opportunity to highlight some players that didn't get an opportunity to appear in the series during it's hiatus.
Thanks to a rating system that includes individualized ratings of college players that we discussed on the Rock Chalk Podcast, we are able to correct that oversight. This rating combines their base talent level with their actual college production to come up with an overall look at their performance.
A reminder that our Video Game All-Stars series will look at recent Kansas players who played well at Kansas but never got an opportunity to be captured with a virtual version of themselves. We will look back at their careers, and include a projection of what their overall rating would have been had the games been around.
We are nearing the end of our series, and I knew that we couldn't end it without looking at a single offensive lineman. And when you think recent Kansas offensive lineman who starred at the college level, it's hard to think of anyone else before you get to Hakeem Adeniji.
Other Player Spotlights in this series:
Daniel Wise
Mike Lee
Joe Dineen
Andrew Parchment
Pooka Williams
Hasan Defense
Dorance Armstrong
Bryce Torneden
Recruiting Bio
A 6'4", 290-lb offensive tackle out of Garland High School in Garland, TX, Adeniji was originally committed to the United States Air Force Academy. However, he was unable to get a medical waiver for a cashew allergy, and he quickly committed to the Jayhawks.
Though the method by which he came to Kansas was unorthodox, there was a lot of optimism for what he could bring to David Beaty's offense, and it didn't take long for Jayhawk fans to see what he could do, as he started all 48 games in his time in college.
Production at Kansas
| Season | Total Snaps | Rushing Blocks | Passing Blocks | Sacks Allowed | QB Hits Allowed | QB Hurries Allowed | QB Pressures Allowed | Penalties (Declined/Offset) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 882 | 324 | 558 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 39 | 5 (2) |
2017 | 851 | 327 | 524 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 21 | 5 (1) |
2018 | 822 | 370 | 452 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 15 | 4 (0) |
2019 | 798 | 348 | 450 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 5 (2) |
Adeniji made an immediate impact for the Jayhawks, first as a swing tackle and then as the primary left tackle. He consistently improved throughout his time with the Jayhawks, but it's fair to say that his best statistical season was actually in 2017, when his Pro Football Focus blocking grade was 72.0 overall.
Best Game
It's difficult to pick a "best" game when it comes to lineman, because as is often the case, the best statistical performances for a lineman rely on good play in so many other places in order to turn into a good outcome. And that's abundantly clear here, since statistically Adeniji's best game came in a 38-9 drubbing by Baylor in 2017. But while he was great, the rest of the line was subpar at best, and the Jayhawks couldn't get anything going.
So instead, I chose to highlight two games where Adeniji played really well, and the Jayhawks were able to put on at least a respectable performance.
November 17, 2018: 55-40 Loss at #6 Oklahoma
Stat line: 1 QB Hit, 1 QB Pressure, no penalties on 67 offensive snaps.
It was a fairly clean game for Adeniji, as he didn't allow much pressure and rated out spectacularly on pass blocking. But what turns this into a memorable game was the run blocking turning into a 252-yard day for Kansas running back Pooka Williams.
September 13, 2019: 48-24 Win at Boston College
Stat line: No hits/pressures/sacks/penalties on 70 offensive snaps.
It is literally not possible for Adeniji to have had a better game statistically, and he had a couple key blocks to spring big runs for multiple Jayhawks. Carter Stanley threw for 238 yards behind a fantastic pass blocking performance, and Khalil Herbert rushed for 187 yards and Pooka Williams ran for 121 yards for a dominant offensive performance by the Jayhawks.
After Kansas
Adeniji was drafted 180th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. His first career start came in week 8 of the 2020 season, and he has been a consistent performer since then. He played in 15 games during the 2020 season, starting in 5.
Adeniji started the 2021 season on the injured list, having torn a muscle during offseason workouts. However, he returned to the lineup on November 4th, 2021, starting in each game the rest of the season, including the first postseason win for the Bengals in 31 years and in the Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams.
He is expected to be a mainstay in the offensive line in Cincinnati for the forseeable future.
Video Game Rating
Base Rating: 70
Production Bonus: 18
Total Rating: 88
Having originally committed to the Air Force Academy, there is a lot of question about what Adeniji's rating should have been coming out of high school. But there is no denying the impact that he had on the field, which translated to a high production bonus and just sneaks him past the cutoff for automatic inclusion in this list.
While the ratings we have are not broken down into the individual attributes that you would typically see in a game like the Madden series, it is possible to guess which attributes would be the highest. Lineman can be difficult to find abilities other than strength, but I would have to include his agility in there as well, given his ability to recover after a missed initial block and still make a somewhat positive play.
A reminder that our video game ratings are provided by CFB Winning Edge, which is an independent outlet focused on college football analytics that has developed team, player and coach ratings based on a wide range of current and historical data.
Patreon supporters have access to their FBS Team Profiles, which includes ratings for over 11,000 individual players across all 131 FBS teams, as well as ratings for every head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, and strength of schedule metrics. In addition to stats, recruiting data, injury reports, and player movement information, they also offer three sets of projected point spreads for every FBS game based on separate projection models, as well as projected win totals.
You can find more information about what they offer by going to their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CFBWinningEdge
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