Oklahoma football: Get used to hearing the name Ugwoegbu
By Chip Rouse
You may not be able to say it or spell it, but one thing is for sure, you’re starting to hear the name of Oklahoma football LB David Ugwoegbu spoken a lot.
And for good reason. Ugwoegbu (pronounced uh-GWAY-boo), a sophomore out of Katy, Texas, a Houston suburb, came to Oklahoma as an outside, pass-rushing linebacker. He played in all 14 OU games last season at that position.
He had played the position throughout high school and was acclimating to it nicely his freshman season at OU. This past offseason, the Sooner coaching staff decided to move Ugwoegbu to inside linebacker with the idea that would get him on the field more along with and instead of being stacked behind another sophomore, Nik Bonitto, on the outside.
Ugwoegbu was the first defensive player to commit to Oklahoma after Alex Grinch was hired as the Sooners’ new defensive coordinator in January 2019.
What the Sooners have done in moving Ugwoegbu to the middle is similar to what they did with former OU defensive star Kenneth Murray. Murray, who is now in the NFL as a first-round pick playing for the Los Angeles Chargers, came to Oklahoma as an outside rush linebacker, just like Ugwoegbu, and was moved to middle linebacker, where he started all 42 games for OU.
Ugwoegbu says he was uncomfortable with the position move at first. He says he felt unsure of what he should be doing. Seven games into the 2020 season, however, he’s playing as if he was a natural at the position.
"“I’ve definitely settled down into the role,” Ugwoegbu told Jason Kersey of The Oklahoman, “and I’m comfortable with it. I like being in the middle of the field, being the field general.”"
The sophomore “Mike” linebacker got his first start of the season last weekend against Kansas because of an injury to starter DaShaun White.
For the season, Ugwoegbu is credited with 17 tackles, two tackles for loss, a quarterback sack and four quarterback hurries. In Oklahoma’s four-overtime Red River rivalry win over Texas, he blocked a second-quarter Longhorn punt and recovered it on the Texas five-yard line, setting up a Sooner go-ahead touchdown.
To the best of my knowledge, Ugwoegbu doesn’t have a nickname yet — like “Obo” for Ogonnia Okoronkwo or “Bookie” for Brendan Radley-Hiles. Perhaps something like “Ugh,” for what quarterbacks and running backs should feel when the see jersey No. 2 bearing down on them.