CaneSport’s Inside the Lines with Miami Hurricanes OL Samson Okunlola: “I’m at my best right now”

If you are looking for one of the guys on this Miami Hurricanes team with bigtime NFL upside that has yet to prove himself much on the field … well, look no further than five-star 2023 OL signee

Samson Okunlola. Blessed with NFL size and agility to match, Okunlola was a key depth piece early last season before a torn MCL struck in Game 4 and cost him the rest of the season.

“Right now I’m at a point my body is feeling good, I’m feeling very athletic,” Okunlola says. “Came off the injury feeling better than ever, football IQ increased. I’m putting my best (foot) forward.”

Indeed.

He was back in action in the spring and has continued his progress into the fall, and he’s competing with Matthew McCoy to start at left guard … the four other starters that are locked in are returning starters Jalen Rivers, Anez Cooper and Francis Mauigoa along with Indiana transfer center Zach Carpenter.

“I’m ready for any opportunity that comes my way,” Okunlola said. “I’m at my best right now, playing my best, doing my best football.”

INSIDE THE LINES SERIES: C Zach Carpenter … QB Emory Williams … WR Jacolby George … OL Francis Mauigoa … DT Ahmad Moten

With explosive skill position players and an O line that looks like it should dominate, Okunlola says overall that “We have a mean, tough, attention-to-detail offense. … It’s coming together very well. we’re going to be explosive, will move the ball in many different ways, be a good offense.”

As for Okunlola’s background?

His freshman season was cut short due to an injury, as mentioned earlier, and per Pro Football Focus he graded out at 74.5 percent in 30 reps with a 71.7 pass block grade and 71.7 run block grade.

“I’m ready for any opportunity that comes my way. I’m at my best right now, playing my best, doing my best football.”

Samson Okunlola

There’s a reason he was a 5-star signee – he’s massive and has great quickness for his size.

Now he’s ready to start living up to his highly touted ceiling and says his football IQ has increased to the point he has the offensive calls down pat.

“Coming in (last spring) it definitely was an adjustment (to college ball), learning more football IQ,” Okunlola said. “I had a pretty good grasp on techniques, it was just learning when to use them, that was my biggest challenge my freshman year. Also I got hurt Week 4, cut it short. The challenge was learning, (but) getting hurt kind of helped me in the sense of just learning more. It forced me to be in that film room way more, I couldn’t do many things physically so I had to do a lot of things mentally.”

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