Rome Odunze did what he does, and more UW thoughts from the NFL Combine
The Huskies sent 13 players to Indianapolis, and most seemed to help themselves.
I first met Rome Odunze in December 2019, at a Starbucks in Las Vegas. The Huskies were in town for the Las Vegas Bowl — Chris Petersen’s final game at UW — and I figured I’d knock out a feature on this four-star receiver signee while I was down there.
The interview lasted 30 minutes or so. We talked about Odunze’s high-school career at Bishop Gorman, his background as a state-champion sprinter and his desire to some day visit Nigeria, where his grandparents lived before moving to the United States. He told me his parents named him Rome because his father had an interest in the Roman Empire. Also, that he drove a stick-shift Honda Accord with more than 200,000 miles on it, and worked at Target for a couple months. He used the money to buy Christmas presents.
I’d seen Odunze’s high-school highlights. His long strides reminded me a little of Reggie Williams. His coaches raved about his toughness and work ethic. UW saw Odunze and fellow 2020 signee Jalen McMillan as cornerstone pieces of what they hoped would be an offensive revival.
What most struck me about Odunze, though, was how comfortable he seemed in his own skin, especially as a high-school senior. He was completely at ease answering questions from this stranger at a coffee shop. He spoke about his football ambitions with both confidence and humility, a difficult balance for any person to achieve, let alone a teenager.