Bishop Gorman (NV) receiver, Rome Odunze says he’s seen all he needs to see, and now it’s just a matter of sitting down and weighing everything out.
We spoke with Odunze this week after he had gotten some rest and back to his regular routine after spending the weekend in Norman, Oklahoma checking out the Sooners.
“It was good”, the 6-3, 200 lb. Husky target reported, “There are a lot of similarities in the way they go about things. (Washington and Oklahoma) are both great programs.”
Odunze admits that, at this point, OU and UW have risen to the top of his list — and so this will be a Sooner/Husky battle going forward.
“It does make it harder”, he said of having had a good experience in Norman, “But it also reassures me that I know I have great options. All these schools have matched-up pretty well.”
As for what stood out about Oklahoma, Odunze said it was “the atmosphere and they have a winning attitude. The coaches and everyone there were friendly, but they know they have a job to do.”
He has been in touch with Washington since he’s been back home as well, “Washington and Oklahoma are up there and have taken the lead.”
Odunze has been just about everywhere during the past few months; Washington, Penn State, Oregon, Virginia, USC, “I’ve been all over”, he said with a laugh. But it’s true — he can have the reassurance now that he has seen everything he needed to see to make an informed decision.
“It’s going to be soon”, he added, “I’m going to sit down and just go over the pros and cons.”
When he was in Washington back in the spring, one thing that really stood out was having an Easter Sunday meal with Junior Adams and Chris Petersen, “That was just awesome”, he said, “It showed me a lot about what the vibe is of that place.”
Odunze is quite fond of Washington, in fact, and the Huskies have a terrific with him at this point.
“It’s mainly about the coaches and what they do”, he said of why he has been drawn to Washington, “They’re great people — they’re great coaches too but they are great people. They have a winning mentality in how they play football but they also make it fun, and they set you up for life.”
When Odunze was on the UW campus, his mother Necia was very impressed by the Built for Life presentation and has had a real strong relationship with the Husky coaches.
So now it’s all about wait-and-see; Odunze has a huge decision to make knowing that he can make a big impact at Washington, but also he has the chance to compete at Oklahoma as well.
Depth-wise, the Sooners signed one of the best receiver classes in the country last year; Theo Weese (5-star), Jadon Hazelwood (5-star), and Trejan Bridges (4-star). They have two receiver commitments this year so far after swinging and missing on Husky commit, Jalen McMillan and most likely missing on Gary Bryant.
In other words, the freshmen and sophomore classes at OU are absolutely loaded.
Washington, on the other hand, has only a larger freshmen receiver class from 2019 and a lone sophomore at this point (Terrell Bynum). So it’s more likely that Odunze would see the field earlier at Washington.
Whether any of that matters at this point is unknown, but he’s a high priority for Washington and was one of the first offers Junior Adams made after he was hired as the new receivers coach (McMillan already had an offer, as did most others except for Sawyer Racanelli, LV Bunkley-Shelton, and Roman Wilson).
So why Odunze? What makes him so special?
What doesn’t make him special? He’s a gifted athlete who’s fast 10.67 100 time), athletic, has excellent hands, excellent vision, is solid on YAC, can go inside on short routes and break free to take it to the house, or just be that deep threat. Odunze has all the intangibles to make his presence known at the next level. He’s a guy who can contribute both on and off the field and fits Coach Pete’s OKG system to a tee.
He hasn’t even reached his full potential yet.
Washington has a corral of blue-chip quarterbacks and so the need for top tier receiver talent is an absolute must going forward for Chris Petersen.
Nabbing McMillan and Racanelli early was huge for their efforts, and if they could land Odunze it would add that last piece to the puzzle for 2020.
Running back class? Done.
Offensive line class? Done.
Quarterback? Done.
Tight ends? Almost done.
As for Odunze’s own goals, he wants to set some new records at Bishop Gorman this year, bring home a championship, and become a real leader as he is a 2019 team captain.
But one thing endearing about Odunze is that he has never let recruiting go to his head, “It’s been a blessing and everyone has treated me kindly.”
Stay tuned…
