Nothing iffy about him: Ify Obidegwu a quiet predator as a cover corner

Ify Obidegwu doesn't give a seven-yard cushion on second and ten. Fluid in the hips and feet with a six-foot-eight wingspan, 6-1, 185, he's muscled and broad shouldered. He likes to press.

At the Under Armour All-American Game in January 2024, playing against the best high school prospects in the country at quarterback and receiver, Obidegwu stepped in front of a pass and took it 73 yards to the house for a 31-3 lead.

In June 2024 he enrolled at Oregon.

Freshman year found him on the scout team, languishing behind six seniors in a veteran secondary. It wasn't wasted. Tuesday after Oregon's third spring practice inside linebacker Bryce Boettcher said about Obidegwu, “He’s been a freak. I’ve always liked the way he brings it every single day at practice.”

When your most talented players are the hardest workers on a team, it could be the group is on its way to being something very special. In 2025, Obidegwu is on his way to being heard from as a Duck.

At St. Frances High School in Baltimore, Obidegwu played for a national power, quarterbacked by five-star Michael Van Buren and battling teams like IMG and Mater Dei for the prep national title. It's a loud, boisterous group that liked to talk trash and put its foot on the neck of an opponent. Ify was the quiet one, cerebral and studious.

Panthers head coach Messay Hallemariam said to Alejandro Danois of the Baltimore Banner, “You might get two or three words out of him every week. “Ify is one of the most quiet, reserved, cerebral, bright, extremely disciplined, mild-mannered young men I’ve ever coached. Everything with him is yes, sir, or no, sir. But he’s a monster on the field who’s not inclined to bark about how good he is. He lets his exceptional play do all of his talking. And it speaks volumes.”

Panther Defensive coordinator Justin Winters told Banner,

“Ify’s just an athletic freak. He’s 6-foot-1 with a 7-foot wingspan, and he can literally scratch his knees while standing straight up. He’s stronger than you, he’s faster than you, he’s tougher than you, and he can strap up and hit you harder than you’ve ever been hit before."

Van Buren called him a matchup nightmare, the guy who drew the assignment of the toughest receivers on a national schedule and rarely gave up a completion, challenging them, pressing, running alongside and swatting away the ball or taking it away.

A physical corner who embraces the challenge of being on the island against top receivers is exactly what Oregon needs in 2025, elite tenacity and agility to take on beasts like 6-3, 215 Jeremiah Smith or 6-3, 191 Carnell Tate. The route to a national championship is certain to reach that crossroads or one like it.

Obidegwu's family is from Nigeria. He said to Banner,
“My parents worked extremely hard, sometimes holding down two jobs at a time. I saw them grinding 24 hours a day sometimes, and that left an impression on me. I learned early on that you have to go hard, every day, to get what you want."

Oregon's assembled a wealth of talent for Chris Hampton's secondary. The path to the two-deep requires the grinding and discipline Ify has witnessed all his life.

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