Samia reflects on road to his OU Senior Day
NORMAN — There weren’t many words exchanged during those evening FaceTime sessions between Dru Samia and his uncle, Gilbert Samia.
Mostly it was just Gilbert keeping a watchful eye as his high school nephew finished his homework.
“He really tried his hardest to make sure I was good,” Dru Samia said this week, tracing a direct line between those nights and what has become of his academic and football career.
Saturday night, when the Sooners play Kansas (6:30 p.m., Fox), Samia is expected to make his 45th career start on the offensive line. If Oklahoma makes the Big 12 Championship game, Samia figures to tie for second place on the Sooners’ career chart for starts by an offensive linemen. Should they do that and make the College Football Playoff championship, Samia would be in second place alone behind only Gabe Ikard.
“For a guy who’s already played a bunch of ball going into his senior year, some guys kind of level off at that point,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s really taken that next step as a senior.”
And during the Senior Day festivities before the game, there will be Gilbert and Diane Samia, beaming with pride.
“I’ve seen a young boy evolve and really work very hard on his skills and to be stronger,” Diane Samia, Dru’s aunt, said. “And really somebody who is extremely focused more so than I ever was.”
But that drive wasn’t innate in Samia.
“I’ve always been smart enough to do the work,” Samia said of his schooling. “I was always just super lazy with it.”
Gilbert Samia played football at Southern Oregon and pushed his nephew to play the sport as well.
Gilbert trained Dru for two years, from when Dru was 13 to about 15, before Dru played the game.
Samia remembers days working with his uncle in the northern California summers, when the garage would close and Gilbert would tell him to do bear crawls while wearing a weight vest in the stifling heat. He remembers his uncle taking him to the local elementary school where he’s use the hopscotch markings to work on his footwork and the monkey bars to do pull-ups.
“It’s humble beginnings,” Dru Samia said. “People can be quick to give up on someone when it doesn’t seem like they’re going anywhere but he stuck by me even though things weren’t looking all that good.
“I just can’t really thank him enough for everything that he’s done.”
Samia still thinks about those days plenty — when he drives past that elementary school and when he reflects on being a college graduate.
Samia said he’ll be fine emotionally once the game starts. But before, when he’s surrounded by family, might be a different story.
“Hopefully everything is good,” Samia said.
“It’s been a long time coming.”