Giants Player Profile | Oluwole Betiku Jr, DL
2019 Season Rewind
Defensive end Oluwole Betiku’s path to the NFL hasn’t been easy.
Betiku received several offers from major programs coming out of Junipero Serra High School in California. He narrowed down his list of college programs to Florida, Florida State, Penn State, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, and UCLA, ultimately committing to UCLA before changing his mind and committing to USC in 2016.
Unfortunately, the five-star recruit’s time at USC wasn’t quite what he likely expected. Playing the weakside defensive end, Betiku appeared in 14 games over three seasons, recording two tackles and no sacks, missing the entire 2018 campaign due to a hip injury.
Betiku, born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, didn’t develop an interest in football until he was a little older than most of his contemporaries. Betiku initially aspired to play basketball, but having grown to his current 6-foot-3 height, basketball wasn’t in his future.
In 2019, he enrolled at Illinois as a graduate transfer. He appeared in just ten games for the Fighting Illini, but that one season was certainly promising.
Although he missed three games because of a lower-body injury, he still recorded 36 total tackles (13.0 for a loss), 9.0 sacks, and seven quarterback hits—good enough to be voted by the media as a third-team All-Big Ten Conference selection.
Despite his limited tape, Betiku, who didn’t’ receive an invitation to the combine, found good fortune as the Illinois Pro Day was able to be held before the novel coronavirus shut everything down. He was timed at 4.69 seconds in the 40-yard dash and 7.26 seconds in the 3-cone shuttle. He also had a 32” vertical jump and a 115” broad jump.
Looking Ahead
Betiku is the very definition of “raw” thanks mainly to his limited college experience, but there are some promising things about him, such as his athleticism and his bull rush. Unfortunately, he’s more of a one-trick pony right now who needs to improve his agility and add some additional moves to his arsenal.
Then there is also the question about where he would best fit in an NFL defense. At 249 pounds, Betiku is on the light side to play on the defensive line where, in going up against a larger opponent would likely result in him being washed out of the play, especially against the run.
He’s also somewhat stiff in his movements, and it looks like he is still trying to find a comfort level with what he’s doing, which will only come with reps and coaching.
With that said, his athleticism and his length are what tend to jump out on the tape, and it will be interesting to see if he can make enough progress for a spot on the practice squad after working with Giants' defensive line coach Sean Spencer this summer.
