SCHOOL’S IN
Ravens rookie Odafe Oweh has ‘infinite’ potential. To reach it, he’s asked for help.
He had said before his first game that the goal was to win, so after he did not, after Odafe Oweh and the Ravens returned home with a Week 1 loss and a target on their back, he made time for more practice, this time on his own.
“This is your profession now,” Oweh had explained, “so what you’ve got to do is what you’ve got to do.” And what the rookie outside linebacker had to do Friday afternoon, just four days after he’d recorded his first NFL sack, just 15 minutes after the week’s last practice had ended, was head back out onto the field. A long work week was getting even longer.
As passersby looked on and Ravens officials tried out free agents on a nearby field, Oweh drilled on a pass-rush sled, honing his technique, the brilliant possibilities of his career slowly turning into probabilities. Hard work had taken him from two years of
varsity football to the first round of the NFL draft. Smart work would take him to rarefied air, to Pro Bowls, to the levels his mentors in Baltimore have already reached and now insist he reach himself.
It is not hard to imagine what Oweh can become. He has already shown so much. In his NFL debut, he was the Ravens’ most productive pass rusher. On Sunday, he was their most impactful defender, helping to force two turnovers, including the decisive fourth-quarter fumble in a prime-time win over the Kansas City Chiefs. “He’s well on his way,” coach John Harbaugh said.
On Wednesday, Oweh was named the AFC — Odafe Oweh, Ravens outside linebacker
Defensive Player of the Week. Teammates see the potential for so much more. Outside linebacker Justin Houston has compared Oweh to a video game character. Defensive tackle Justin Madubuike said he’s “built like a cyborg.” Defensive end Calais Campbell said that with the combined wisdom of the Ravens’ locker room, “there’s no way that he’s going to be able to fail.”
When the latest hype is relayed to him in an interview, Oweh is almost embarrassed, smiling bashfully and speaking softly in his deep voice. He appreciates what others see in his future. He is happier to have two stars shaping it. Because for as rare as Oweh’s talent might be, his star tutors’ credentials are even more precious: a combined 189 sacks, 236 appearances and 10 Pro Bowl selections.
“Obviously, we’re all men here, so at the end of the day, what we do and what we don’t