Middletown defensive end Olatomiwa Durojaiye commits to Kentucky
MIDDLETOWN, Del. (BVM) — Olatomiwa Durojaiye, better known by his coaches and teammates as Tomiwa, hasn’t been playing football for long, but that hasn’t stopped him from committing to a Division I program in what is considered the NCAA’s toughest conference. On Aug. 15, the Middletown rising senior defensive lineman announced his commitment to Southeastern Conference member University of Kentucky.
The Decision@UKFootball pic.twitter.com/T0UM3O38T9
— Tomiwa Durojaiye (@TomiwaDurojaiye) August 15, 2021
The decision is the culmination of a journey for Durojaiye who only played football for one year in fifth grade by the time he got to Middletown High School as a freshman. Though he didn’t play the sport, Durojaiye had a good frame and took to the sport like a fish to water.
“For Tomiwa it’s been neat to watch,” Middletown head football coach Zach Blum told BVM Sports in January. “He came out as a freshman, never played a down of football in his life. … He’s a first generation American, his family comes from Nigeria. To see him embrace football and see his maturity increase so dramatically over the last three and a half years has been so fun to watch and so rewarding for our coaches.”
Now, nearly four years later, Durojaiye has built himself into an elite football talent. As a junior last season, the 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive end burst onto the scene for the Cavaliers with 45 tackles, including 19.5 for loss, and 8.5 sacks. This was good enough for Durojaiye to earn first team all-state honors and put his name solidly in the Division I recruit conversation.
“I think at the end of the day there’s probably only 100, 150 kids in America who are 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 who I think when it’s all said and done will weigh 280, 290 pounds and can run and bend,” Blum said at the time. “Those guys are few and far between, but as far as all the things you can’t see with a tape measure and scale, Tomiwa is a guy that works his tail off every single day for every part of it.”
During the offseason, the Delaware product saw an influx of Division I offers which all started with his first from Akron in January. By the end of his recruitment, Durojaiye would earn 22 Division I offers from the likes of Arkansas, Michigan, Northwestern and Temple. By the time he was making his decision, he had reduced his list to his top five programs: Georgia Tech, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and West Virginia and would visit each of them.
However, at the end of the day, it was Lexington and the Wildcats that won over Durojaiye. With his commitment, the Wildcats add another three-star recruit to their already impressive crop of Class of 2022 recruits. The class includes one of the highest-rated commitments in Kentucky program history according to 247 Sports in offensive tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin from Charlestown, Indiana, along with 10 other commits including three other four-star players, five other three-star prospects and a two-star prospect. This gives the Wildcats the No. 35 class in the country to this point, nearing where they were ranked No. 34 last year.
With his commitment to the Wildcats, Durojaiye will bring a unique player that the Kentucky coaching staff can mold. Given his success with the few years he has played the organized sport, expect this Delaware athlete to only get better with experience.
