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| Babatunde Oshinowo has pressured many quarterbacks during his Stanford career |
Cardinal Commitment: Babatunde Oshinowo Chat Wrap
Junior nose tackle answered questions in the gostanford.com chat room on Thursday.
Stanford, Calif. - Junior nose tackle Babatunde Oshinowo made a special appearance in the gostanford.com chat room on Thursday, October 14 (1:00 pm, PT) to continue a series of weekly chats with Cardinal football players throughout the 2004 campaign. The chat series is one element of the in-depth, detailed and exclusive coverage of the 2004 Stanford Football team featured on the Cardinal Commitment page of gostanford.com. Other features on the page include press releases, a behind the scenes look at the Stanford Athletics Department staff, promotion and ticket information, Buddy Teevens' press conferences, player reports, assistant coaching reports, and of course, Gameday Central every Saturday for all Stanford Football games.
Oshinowo will be the first member of the team's stalwart defensive line to appear in the gostanford.com chat room this season. He has been a key cog down in the trenches of a Stanford defense that has allowed opponents just 98.2 yards per game on the ground (#2 Pac-10, #19 NCAA) and given up only 16.0 points per contest (#4 Pac-10, #20 NCAA).
Oshinowo has started all five of Stanford's games this season, leading the team's defensive linemen with 14 solo tackles and ranking second among the group with a total of 15 stops.
Oshinowo became a full-time starter for the Cardinal as a sophomore in 2003 and made the most of his opportunity, earning honorable mention All-Pac-10 honors and winning the Deswarte-Eller Award as the club's most outstanding sophomore. Oshinowo started all 11 games, leading the team in sacks (4.0-30) and ranking second in tackles-for-loss (8.0-39), while contributing 25 tackles (17 solo). Oshinowo picked up a pair of his sacks in a 21-14 win over UCLA (11/1/03) and had a career-high seven-tackle performance at Oregon State (11/15/03). He also had success in the classroom as a First Team Academic All-Pac-10 and Second Team District 8 Academic All-America choice.
After redshiriting the 2001 campaign as a true freshman, Oshinowo first hit the playing field for the Cardinal the following season and made a significant contribution by playing in all 11 games (one start). Oshinowo accumulated 23 tackles (17 solos), six tackles-for-loss, three sacks and one pass break up as a redshirt freshman. He finished the season on a high note by winning the Frank Rehm Award as the team's Most Outstanding Lineman in the Big Game versus California (11/23/02), recording three solo tackles and one tackle-for-loss against the Golden Bears.
He now 62 career tackles (46 solo) and seven sacks and 15 tackles-for-loss in 27 games and 17 starts.
The Electrical Engineering major of Nigerian descent spent his prep career at Neuqua High School in his hometown of Naperville, Illinois. He earned First Team All-State and Conference Most Valuable Player honors as a senior, while twice picking up All-Area and All-Conference recognition. Oshinowo finished his high school career with 106 tackles, 28 tackles-for-loss and 11 quarterback sacks. He had 48 tackles, 13 tackles-for-loss and six sacks as a senior. In addition, he was successful in the classroom as a six-time Academic All-Conference selection and showed his skills outside both athletics and academic by serving as the Jazz Band (trombone) and Wind Symphony Orchestra (baritone) section leaders in the school band.
Stanford (3-2, 1-1 Pac-10) next travels to Washington State (3-2, 1-1 Pac-10) for its first Pac-10 road contest of the season in a game to be televised live by Fox Sports Net this Saturday, October 16 (7:15 pm, PDT). The Cardinal leads the all-time series between the clubs, 30-23-1, but Washington State has won the last three meetings (all played at Stanford). Stanford was a 24-10 winner the last time the teams met in Pullman on September 2, 2000. Live audio broadcasts of Saturday's contest can be heard on KNEW 910-AM, KZSU 90.1 FM and gostanford.com, as well as on the Stanford Football Radio Network (KFIA ... 710 AM, Sacramento ... KPSI 920 AM, Palm Springs ... KUIK 1360 AM, Portland).
If you would like to ask your questions for Babatunde ahead of time, please feel free to post them now, and we will save them for his arrival on Thursday.
Getting To Know Babatunde Oshinowo
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| Moderator: Babatunde is here and ready to begin answering your questions. |
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| D77: Do you really think you can beat me in Mario Golf? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Yes, yes I can. |
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| Drew (San Diego): Where do you see this team finishing this year? 7-5? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I see this team going 9-2. We know we have the ability to win out. We just have to stop killing ourselves with mistakes. |
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| NeuquaRat (Naperville, IL): Folks here are asking; Where are the sacks? Could you explain the reason you have not gotten a sack in 5 games? Is it due to the new defensive scheme, being double teamed a lot? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: In a 3-4 scheme, the nose does get more double teams. I've been close but that doesn't count in football. If we keep playing well, you can expect big things from all of us. |
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| Brandon (Lodi,CA): What is the toughest part of switching from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defensive allignment? Have you had to make any adjustments in your style of play or do you play everything the same way like in previous seasons? Best of luck Saturday up in Pullman. |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: The nose in a 3-4 scheme has to anchor the line and often takes up 1-2 blockers so that the linebackers can run free. It was a little difficult at first, but the defense coming together well now. |
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| Derek (San Francisco): Looking good so far Papatunde!
Do you play better angry?
Also, what percentage of plays do you think you're double-teamed? Good luck and GO CARDINAL! |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I definately do not play better angry. It wastes a lot of energy. As far as double-teams, I would say the nose gets them about 70% of the time. |
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| Timi (Naperville): How important is the junior year when being recruted? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Every year is important. Coaches will see it all, so it's important to always perform your best when you have the chance. |
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| Winnie: Which quarterback would you love to sack in all of NCAA Division I football? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: A sack is a sack as far as I'm concerned. |
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| Roffe, Stockholm: Hi! how is do you think Gustav R. is doing |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Gustav is improving every day. He is real tough and has great quickness. |
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| Pops, Naperville: You were featured in the Naperville Sun on Tuesday (1.5 pages). Congratulations! What are your academic goals at Stanford? Any Pro aspirations after college? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I want to graduate with a B.S and a Master's Degree. As far as pro sports goes, the NFL is a definate goal for me. |
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| Michael Forrest (Northridge):
Congratulations on a fine first half of the season. Two-part question: (A) How do you and the team like the new 3--4 defense? And (B) Is it harder for you as the Nose Tackle?
Best of luck to you in everything you do.
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Babatunde Oshinowo: It is fun to see the 3-4 defense really coming together for us. It fits the personnel we have very well. B) It's only harder when you get triple teamed. But that normally means someone else is running free. |
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| Illinione (Champaign, IL): Wish you are an Illini. Anyhow, I have followed your college career and seems that you are doing great! You had a good game against Notre Dame last week. Your team seem to be the better team. you guys just need to play smart. Good luck the rest of the season |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Thanks for your support. We know that if we keep eliminating mistakes we will have a great season. |
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| Cherise and Liz (Stanford): Hi Baba!
What have been the most challenging aspects of playing football at the Division 1 level and how have you overcome these challenges? Go Card... |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Managing time well and staying healthy are probably the two biggest challenges. It's tough, but these challenges have motivated me to do better and helped me grow closer to God. It helps to have the support and prayers of my family and my friends . |
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| NeuquaRat (Naperville, IL): Hi OJ. What advise would you give a highschool football player like me who want to be big as you did when you were at Neuqua |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Set your goal and then work every single day toward it. |
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| Stanfordfan (Chicago,IL): How difficult is it to be the football player that you are and combine it with Electrical Engineering major? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: It's hard to split time between the lab and the field. It means quite a few long nights, but its definately possible. |
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| Rajesh (San Jose, CA): What do you think explains the striking difference between 1st Half and 2nd Half Stanford performance this year? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: The difference is that in the 2nd half, we haven't executed as well as a team. We are going to eliminate those mistakes. |
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| BabaSis(Palo Alto): Does having your sister around help during the season?:):):) Love Ya! |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Sometimes... |
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| A.J. (Palo Alto): Baba,
What do you like most and the also the least about being at Stanford? And is it really anti-Christian? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I love my teammates and all the experiences I've had with the team and the people I've gotten to know while here. The thing I like the least about Stanford is probably vegitarian food. I wouldn't say it's anti-Christian. |
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| Tom (palo alto): Was it a mistake to hire Buddy Teevens? If not, why not? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: It was not a mistake to hire Coach Teevens. He is a great coach to play for and a great motivator. One of the most disappointing things I've seen of late is the support for Stanford football and the lack of support for our head coach from a few of our fans. |
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| Anotherfan (Atlanta, GA): Hey Chief! What is your leadership style? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I like to lead by example, but I get fired up sometimes. Especially during games. |
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| Bete Rouge, Huntsville, AL: Must have been very frustrating waling across the field after the game having lost to those guys. Did they seem to have more respect for Stanford this year? Also, I watched you play. You NEVER put in your mouthgard. What's up with that? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I'm assuming by "those guys" you mean ND. We have shown the nation that we are a team not to be taken lightly. We will get respect when we win. I DO put my mouthpiece in, but I forget about it a lot. |
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| Mike Jones, Houston: Has going against freshman Alex Fletcher made you a better player? I hear he can be a dominating blocker and is a very intense player? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: I love Alex's intensity; its a great presence on the team. When he gets stronger and faster and develops his technique in the offseason, he will be a phenomenal player. |
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| AK 80, stanford: Why are you so big? Your parents aren't very big in stature but you and your little brother are giants. How did that happen? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Nigerian food and American milk. Yum. |
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| PAUL BELMONT: BABATUNDE HOPE YOU GET 15 SACKS PER QUARTER AND PAST OFFICE LINE MEN AND WALK OVER YOUR OPPIONENT RIVAL PAC-10 ATHLETIC OF THE WEEK |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Thanks. |
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| Aaron (Sunnyvale, CA): Baba,
If you couldn't play at Stanford, where would you have gone? Also, are we going to win the Big Game this year? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Tough question...Wisconsin was a pretty good program, except for the astroturf. If we play like we are capable, we will win the rest of our games. |
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| D?: What do you think about the play of Alex Fletcher? I heard he gets the best of you sometimes during practice. |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Alex is a good player with a lot of potential. |
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| Muyiwa Jolaoso (Chicago, IL): Tunde, how has the support of your family affected the level of your game? What do you have to say to all the young boys playing football in Naperville, who have aspirations similar to yours? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: My family has been the greatest influence in my life. I love and appreciate all of them. It's important to keep working hard every single day. |
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| Carlos (stanford): What do you think about the switches from offense to defense this year, specifically Mcclernan and Lofton. How do you see these players developing? |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Meat is a very strong player who will only get better with time as he gets more comfortable at the position and improves his technique. Lofton has a lot of potential and will be very good as well. |
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Babatunde Oshinowo: Thanks everyone for the questions. It's time for practice so I have to go. |
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