Lawrence Okoye Thread of Epic Awesomeness

While I'm sure he'll be able to master the physical aspect of the sport, what concerns me in regards to Okoye's growth and development is that there simply isn't enough TIME for him to learn the game of football MENTALLY. Even if he's a classroom whiz, certainly, there's not much evidence present to suggest he'd be on the MENTAL level of another potential PS player. I'd be more confident if he hadn't played American football before but was a avid follower of the sport since childhood....but that's not the case. He's literally BRAND SPANKIN NEW....and that concerns me.

The best way to get Okoye's talents on the field is to line him at FB, pitch out to Gore who pitches it further out to Okoye Rugby style. Or pitch it to him for a drop kick FG.

Originally posted by Garcia:
this dude a starter yet?

he's the only olympian on the roster.

That is if you don't count Vernon Davis and his shuffleboard on ice team.

Originally posted by pd24:
The big white is biiger than Okyoe. We should get him too.

british record holder in the shot put. known steroid user.

i don't know where he'll end up.
physically, he's a big, linear sprinter.
we're going to find that he has mediocre lateral movement and mediocre ankle flexion. with his height and joint stiffness, he's going to have a hard time holding leverage in the trenches. he should do fine in a wide, rush lane. he should also get some reps at TE and OT, just to see if his athleticism transfers to the movements of those positions.

Originally posted by xcfan:
i don't know where he'll end up.
physically, he's a big, linear sprinter.
we're going to find that he has mediocre lateral movement and mediocre ankle flexion. with his height and joint stiffness, he's going to have a hard time holding leverage in the trenches. he should do fine in a wide, rush lane. he should also get some reps at TE and OT, just to see if his athleticism transfers to the movements of those positions.

How do you measure ankle flexion? Is it anterior-posterior flexion or side to side lateral ankle flexion? What's "good" ankle flexion in degrees? Just curious

Don't they have stretches for that? Like kneeling into a fetal position with toes pointing out behind you so ankle is fully extended. That's a good one. That's hard. That's a sweat producer believe it or not. Just fully extending the ankle after exertion.

Don't forget how young he is. He can be trained. Get him into a yoga class with a trained PT 90 minutes /day 6 days / week. Lead with the body and the CNS will follow.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:
How do you measure ankle flexion? Is it anterior-posterior flexion or side to side lateral ankle flexion? What's "good" ankle flexion in degrees? Just curious

Don't they have stretches for that? Like kneeling into a fetal position with toes pointing out behind you so ankle is fully extended. That's a good one. That's hard. That's a sweat producer believe it or not. Just fully extending the ankle after exertion.

Don't forget how young he is. He can be trained. Get him into a yoga class with a trained PT 90 minutes /day 6 days / week. Lead with the body and the CNS will follow.

there's not a lot you can do to alter the range of motion of large joints. serious stretching will help with muscle flexibility, but it's not going to transform a joint's internal ligaments and give you a whole new joint.
an elite player with great joint flexion is jj watt. he was born that way.
okoye is not that guy. when you watch him move and run, you see stiffness like you'd see in an offensive guard. that's his liability. on the other hand, his straight-line explosiveness and quickness is elite for his size. it'll be interesting to see how he pans out.

Originally posted by xcfan:
i don't know where he'll end up.
physically, he's a big, linear sprinter.
we're going to find that he has mediocre lateral movement and mediocre ankle flexion. with his height and joint stiffness, he's going to have a hard time holding leverage in the trenches. he should do fine in a wide, rush lane. he should also get some reps at TE and OT, just to see if his athleticism transfers to the movements of those positions.

not to be a hater but i think he will end up in the unemployment line after the teams first cut

Originally posted by cciowa:
not to be a hater but i think he will end up in the unemployment line after the teams first cut

that could very well be.
he's going to get beat up like never before. we'll see how he responds to that.
the fact that he will have to be thinking so much while he's practicing is really going to hurt him.
then, again, he may have one or two move that simply blow the coaches away and seal a spot for him.

Originally posted by xcfan:
there's not a lot you can do to alter the range of motion of large joints. serious stretching will help with muscle flexibility, but it's not going to transform a joint's internal ligaments and give you a whole new joint.
an elite player with great joint flexion is jj watt. he was born that way.
okoye is not that guy. when you watch him move and run, you see stiffness like you'd see in an offensive guard. that's his liability. on the other hand, his straight-line explosiveness and quickness is elite for his size. it'll be interesting to see how he pans out.

You critique is ever move, how did you observe his movement at the OTA's? Are you a professional coach? If not you sound foolish! Just saying.....

Originally posted by pd24:

Originally posted by xcfan:

The big white is biiger than Okyoe. We should get him too.

nah he's got man boobs

Originally posted by ninerfan52:
You critique is ever move, how did you observe his movement at the OTA's? Are you a professional coach? If not you sound foolish! Just saying.....

You don't need to be a pro coach to be knowledgable about kineseology. His remarks don't strike me as biased. We'll just see for ourselves when/if we can.

I think he's an incredible athlete and lateral movement is probably something he can learn how to do rather quickly. I still think the big wildcard is the hitting. NFL offensive linemen are going to be slamming into him. They're just as big or bigger and just as strong or stronger. They're going to be hitting him at velocities you don't find in rugby. A player like Mike Iupati is going to pull out, slam into him and pancake him. The question in my mind is can he take that kind of punishment, get back up and continue to grind.

Going to get real for the Brit! Hope he plays well enough to make the PS. I think that would be an amazing achievement. Of course playing his way onto the 53 would be a great story, but not very likely.

Wow, I wonder how long it would take to learn the NFL, learn to play what the competition has been playing since age 8, ~ 20-30 yrs. He has the body, the agility, but the learning curve must be something to behold. I don't think any of us could actually understand what kind of learning curve that is for a guy who grew up never playing, or imagine this, never seeing football. Realistically, virtually no one unfamiliar with the sport could be expected to learn an entirely new sport in such a short time span. Not saying it can't be done, but odds must be really highly stacked against him. That said, here's hoping he makes it.