{"id":58278,"date":"2025-05-29T07:57:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T07:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58278"},"modified":"2025-05-29T07:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T07:57:38","slug":"who-is-osa-odighizuwa-what-to-know-about-cowboys-dt-who-overcame-complicated-upbringing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=58278","title":{"rendered":"Who is Osa Odighizuwa? What to know about Cowboys DT who overcame complicated upbringing"},"content":{"rendered":"
Here are 10 things to know about Dallas Cowboys DT Osa Odighizuwa, who has anchored the Cowboys\u2019 defensive line for the last three seasons and who just signed on to a long-term contract with Dallas in March.<\/p>\n

1. The basics<\/h2>\n

Name:<\/b> Osawaru Odighizuwa<\/p>\n

Position: <\/b>Defensive tackle<\/p>\n

Born: <\/b>August 13, 1998<\/p>\n

Hometown: <\/b>Dayton, Ohio<\/p>\n

Height: <\/b>6-2 Weight:<\/b> 280 pounds<\/p>\n

College: <\/b>UCLA<\/p>\n

2. New contract<\/h2>\n

On March 4, the pending free agent Osa Odighizuwa signed a four-year extension to remain with the Cowboys, the team that drafted him.<\/p>\n

The deal is worth $80 million over the next four seasons, with a $20 million signing bonus and $52 million guaranteed.<\/p>\n

3. Nigerian descent<\/h2>\n

Odighizuwa is of Nigerian descent and his brother, Owa, was a defensive end with the Giants from 2015-16.<\/p>\n

4. Complicated youth<\/h2>\n

Despite the success stories of he and his brother, the Odighizuwas came out of what was a very complicated upbringing.<\/p>\n

Their father, Peter, was the perpetrator of the 2002 Appalachian School of Law shooting in Grundy, Va. A former student, Peter learned he was going to be suspended due to failing grades and subsequently went on an on-campus shooting rampage that killed three, including the dean and a professor, and injured three more.<\/p>\n

After originally being found mentally incompetent to stand trial, Peter Odighizuwa eventually pleaded guilty to the murders. He received six life sentences without the possibility of parole and is currently serving at Red Onion State Prison.<\/p>\n

A 2015 story on Owa Odighizuwa in the New York Post details how the boys\u2019 mother, Abjeyuwa, feared for their lives after the shooting and moved her children across the country to Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you, she needs like an award for being the strongest mother I ever met in my life,\u201d one of Osa and Owa\u2019s aunts said of Abjeyuwa in the story. \u201cVery determined. I don\u2019t know how she did it. I couldn\u2019t do it. But she did it. A very, very strong woman.\u201d<\/p>\n