Boston College defender turned down Terps

By David Driver
Posted: November 27, 2009

Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen, whose job security is uncertain with a 2-9 record, was asked Tuesday during his annual media luncheon in which areas his team needed to improve. One of the things he said was: “We need some corners and we need some safeties, too.” One defensive back who got away was Okechukwu Okoroha, a redshirt freshman at Boston College who played a few miles from College Park at Eleanor Roosevelt High in Greenbelt.

Okoroha, listed at 6 feet 1, 195 pounds, is second on the depth chart at free safety behind junior Wes Davis of the Eagles. Boston College, 7-4 overall, will play Saturday at Maryland at 3:30 p.m. in the regular-season finale for the Terps. In a telephone interview Tuesday about one hour before Friedgen addressed a large media contingent, Okoroha said Maryland offered him a scholarship late in his recruiting process. He had 70 tackles in seven games as a high school senior and missed three games because of an ankle injury. Okoroha, who has seven tackles in seven games this year, has been a special teams performer and has played some in the secondary. “Their secondary is very, very solid,” Friedgen said of BC. “It is a veteran secondary.”

The Prince George’s resident said he was also recruited by Penn State and Illinois, among other schools. Okoroha said he would have been open to attending college at Maryland. One of his sisters graduated from the school, while his brother attends Towson and another sister went to Bowie State. “I also wanted to get away from Maryland,” said Okoroha, who has lived in Lanham since his family moved from Nigeria when he was 6.

Okoroha was high school teammates with Isaiah Ross, a freshman defensive lineman for Maryland. BC head coach Frank Spaziani was an assistant at Navy from 1975-81 and at Virginia from 1982-90. Bryan Murray, from Olney and Good Counsel High in Montgomery County, is a redshirt freshman defensive tackle for the Eagles.

Okoroha knows the Terps are playing for pride while BC, out of the ACC title picture, is trying to put itself in position for the best bowl game possible. “We have to play hard like we have played every game,” he said. Howard County residents on the Terps’ roster include three from Columbia: freshman offensive lineman Cody Blue (Wilde Lake High), junior defensive lineman Josh Horton (River Hill) and sophomore defensive lineman Chris Rhodes (River Hill).

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