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Oluwaseun Idowu never tried to think about, but it would always creep into the back of his mind:
Would he be put on scholarship?
After being moved from safety to linebacker midway through last season, Idowu is listed as Pitt’s starter at the Star linebacker position. It seemed to be a long time coming for Idowu once he started competing for that job in the spring, and that moment finally came when Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi announced to the team that he and backup quarterback Manny Stocker were awarded scholarships.
“I was super excited. Everybody was just really happy,” Idowu said. “We’ve been waiting for the day to come for a while.”
Idowu’s first calls were to his parents. His teammates, meanwhile, urged him to splurge on a meal.
“My teammates were like ‘go treat yourself. You don’t have anything to worry about,’” Idowu said.
Stocker took a circuitous path to this point, transferring from UT-Martin to Pitt in 2014 and spending the 2015 season as a wide receiver. With a dearth at the quarterback spot, Pitt’s staff moved him back there, which is what he played at UT-Martin. The scholarship made that path worth it.
“It’s like the light at the end of the tunnel,” Stocker said. “Coming here, you’re going in with the unexpected, you’ve got to take a leap of faith.”
Without limited depth at their new positions, those scholarships might have not come so soon for Idowu and Stocker. In Idowu’s case, Pitt’s staff needed more numbers at linebacker, and felt his speed and coverage skills would play well at the Star spot. Competing with converted wide receiver Elijah Zeise for the starting job over the spring, he quickly made it clear to Pitt’s staff that he could be a viable option. With increasing reps, Idowu's confidence grew that a scholarship would come.
“After spring ball, that was the time it really hit. Like ‘you can really do it. You’re in that position,’” Idowu said.
Though the pressure to earn a scholarship was never in the forefront for Idowu, his teammates pushed him to reach this point. There’s offensive tackle Jaryd Jones-Smith, who would call Idowu in the wee hours of the early morning to make sure he was up for winter conditioning.
“You’ve got to get up. No mistakes,” Idowu said Jones-Smith would urge him.
Plus, fullback George Aston, a previous walk-on who was put on scholarship last year, made a pact previously with Idowu for them both to earn scholarships. The two shared a locker as freshmen.
“Before he got a scholarship, [he was like] ‘let’s do this. You’ve got the ability to do it,’” Idowu said. “It gives you confidence. You start to trust yourself more to do big things as a player.”
But now Idowu nor Stocker have to worry about if they would ever relinquish their walk-on statuses. Now, Idowu’s undivided attention is on football.
“Every single ounce of my worry, stress and pressure is really just into football now,” Idowu said.
