Houston Edge Obinna Umeh Heading to Pitt Visit

On film, Obinna Umeh is the type of prospect that’ll leave many wondering why he isn’t a much higher-profile recruit. Perhaps the Pitt Panthers wondered the same when the staff extended an offer to the 6-foot-4, 225-pound pass rusher.

This week, Umeh will travel from Houston to Pittsburgh to get an up-close look at the Panthers during spring camp.

Last season at St. Thomas Catholic, Umeh put together 58 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, five-and-a-half sacks, 19 hurries, four passes defensed, and a fumble recovery.

All the while, Umeh held together a fantastic 4.11 GPA, evident in his offer list that includes Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Surely, his academics profile is a big part of why he also earned an offer from Stanford over the weekend while visiting Palo Alto.

Army, Colorado State, Oklahoma State, Pitt, Rice, San Diego State, Tulsa, and UNLV represent additional offers on his list.

Ahead of his Northeast trip to Pennsylvania, Umeh spoke with Inside the Panthers.

Did you grow up playing football in Texas from a young age? Tell me about your background.

“My parents are Nigerian and they don't know about football too much, but I started playing football when I was in Little League in second grade and I was kind of playing all over the place.

“They had me a wide receiver, linebacker, safety, you know, playing a little bit of everything. So, it was really exciting. I got to eighth grade and I started playing a little bit of linebacker and receiver and on the D-Line. And so, that's when I started to take off because I didn't really know what I was doing up until then.

“When I got to high school, I switched strictly to D-Line and outside linebacker a little bit. So, that was pretty fun.

“I did track when I was growing up. I also played a little bit of basketball in my younger years, which was my first sport until I really started to take off with football. It was exciting.”

In my experience covering recruits with Nigerian roots, it seems that academics are very often emphasized in that culture. You have a 4.11 GPA, offers from Harvard, Yale, etcetera. It would seem that’s accurate in relation to your family. Would you say that’s true?

“Yes, sir. Growing up, my parents have always, especially my father, emphasized that football is great and football is always going to be a game that I love, but it's not going to last forever.

“So, he always told me no one can take away one thing from me in this world, and that is my knowledge and my ability to pride myself in my academics. That's how I feel like I can just secure my future and secure myself, and everything else is just kind of me having fun and using my God-given talents…with hard work and dedication and discipline to get to where I am, and get to where I want to go.

“My parents would just talk to me. like, ‘A college decision is not a sports. It's a lifetime decision, and your academics is a big part of that.’

“So, just not treating it as a chore but treating it as a blessing that I'm fortunate I get to study. I get to do my work. ‘Hey, look, I get to show up today even when it's hard.’ You know?

“It's like I'm fortunate enough to be able to play this game and I want to get after my school. I want to get after the football. I don't want to stand back in any aspect of my life because I want be a winner and I know that means all aspects, sir.”

Pitt Panthers Edge Recruit Obinna Umeh — IG: obinnaumeh_

You attend a private school in St. Thomas Catholic. Is that a particularly strong academic school?

“Yes, sir, really rigorous academics, really intense, but it gets you to where you want to go in the future if you just apply yourself and keep working hard.”

Tell me about Pitt extending the offer and what led you to set up the visit for yourself.

“Mostly the connection I grew with Coach (Randy) Bates came when he came down to Houston three times. The first time I saw him was my sophomore season. And my sophomore season, I didn't get to play ‘cause I got hurt. I injured my ankle ligaments, causing me to miss the whole season.

“When my former head coach…(said), ‘This is one of the guys, come back and you'll see.’ So, next thing you know, fast forward to my junior year, I do pretty well. We didn't get the job done, but we made it to the semifinals.

“Coach Bates sees my film. He calls me up and he hands me a scholarship. Being my third offer, that really meant a lot to me seeing that they took a gamble on me, they took a bet on me. They saw something in me that other people didn't.

“I was just fortunate enough to have a guy like Coach Bates like my film and take that chance on me.

“Knowing Pitt’s academics is very underrated. It's the number one school in the Northeast. I did my research. It has a great medicine program, something I potentially want to do. And it has a good engineering program, something like biological engineering or mechanical engineering or even pre-med.

“Those three aspects are what I want to look into for studying, and just knowing that school has all facets is really important to me.”

Any other visits ahead of you this off-season?

“I'm thinking of traveling up to Dallas for an SMU visit. And I think we're going down to San Diego State, and Harvard, and potentially Yale.”

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Panthers for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage, and more!

Follow Inside the Panthers on Twitter: @InsidePitt