Report: ’Canes adding a transfer
The Hurricanes will need new faces to contribute at defensive tackle after juniors RJ McIntosh and Kendrick Norton elected to leave Miami early and enter the NFL draft.
UM appears to have picked up some help at the position with a graduate transfer from Illinois in Tito Odenigbo.
Odenigbo was first reported by The NewsGazette of Champaign, Ill., to be transferring from the Fighting Illini on Nov. 29, four days after they finished their schedule.
He has not been officially announced by Miami as transferring in, nor does he show up on the team’s online roster, but a screenshot from TV sports anchor James Rider, of Fox 45 in Dayton, Ohio, shows Odenigbo’s private Twitter account posting “New school #TheU” with a picture of former Hurricanes and NFL coach Jimmy Johnson. Odenigbo also lists himself as “UIUC 18 University of Miami 20” on his private Instagram page.
He would be eligible to play right away at UM as a graduate, according to a 247Sports.com report.
As a redshirt junior at Illinois, Odenigbo, whose full name is Otitodilinna Odenigbo, started four games and finished with 29 tackles, a sack and two pass breakups. He was tied for second on the team with 41⁄2 tackles for loss.
In his last game at Illinois, Odenigbo was ejected for tossing a flag back at an official in a loss to Northwestern. The Illini finished 2-10 last season.
Coming out of Centerville High in Ohio, Odenigbo was a consensus three-star recruit.
Returning defensive tackles on UM’s roster are redshirt senior Gerald Willis, redshirt sophomore Tyreic Martin and sophomore Jonathan Ford.