Behind the making of Texas Tech football DT Mateen Ibirogba
Growing up outside Washington, D.C., in Clarksburg, Maryland, Mateen Ibirogba played football throughout high school, but also lacrosse. The young man, now a Texas Tech footballdefensive tackle, wielded a lacrosse defender's long stick."It was a different kind of sport," he said. "It taught me a lot hand-eye coordination, leverage, having lateral quickness so it was a really fun sport to play."Back then, Ibirogba wasn't a coveted football recruit, so he started out less than 30 miles from his high school at Georgetown famous for basketball, FCS in football. To Ibirogba's recollection, football crowds consisted mostly of family and friends, but it was an ideal starting point for a raw talent with room to grow.More: 5 Texas Tech football freshmen who you should expect to see this fallMore: After USC-Texas Tech football talks fizzle, here's Tech's thinkingOver the past four years two at Georgetown, followed by two at Wake Forest Ibirogba's continued to get bigger and better, from a 6-foot-4, 240-pound edge defender at a lower level to a 6-4, 300-pound Power Four conference defensive tackle who, this off-season, was one of the most sought-after players in the NCAA transfer portal.Texas Tech signed him and immediately plugged him into a starting spot in the defensive line."I'd say it was surreal," Ibirogba said earlier this month. "I was really thankful for the opportunities I had. A lot of teams saw my talent. They felt like I could fit their system. "It was a hard choice, honestly. You had, like, 20-plus schools that wanted me to take a visit. You had to quickly do a lot of research, talk to a lot of different people, then see what skillsets I had that can really transition into their system and be the best player I know I can be."Ibirogba's last name is pronounced "EE-bee-RO-buh", the "g" being silent. His ancestry is Nigerian on his father's side of the family, Ghanaian on his mother's. Ibirogba's family came to the United States about 25 years ago, he said, so he was born in the states and English is his first language. Before he picked Texas Tech, Ibirogba had visits set up for Notre Dame, Tennessee and Georgia Tech. His statistics last season at Wake Forest 21 tackles, 3 1/2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks don't jump off the page, but his tools do. "Mateen is one of the most physically gifted people I've seen play the game of football," Tech linebacker John Curry said. "His strength, his mindset and his effort that he brings to the table is amazing for this defense.""Mateen, that dude's so freakishly strong," center Sheridan Wilson said.Testimonials such as those are an indication that Ibirogba's work with the nutritionists at Georgetown and Wake Forest, and those schools' strength and conditioning staffs, was time well spent. Bulking up has been a priority his entire college career. He went from 240 pounds to 260 or more while at Georgetown while being primarily an edge player and was asked to get bigger still at Wake to play 3-technique defensive tackle. Demon Deacons coaches even kept him in the four-game redshirt window as an upperclassman two years ago, not for any injury reason, but for his development. "They just wanted me to improve at D-tackle," he said, "just learn how to really play effectively and really give me one more year to get bigger and stronger."Now he's closer to a finished product. The week of the spring game this year, Tech defensive coordinator Shiel Wood named Ibirogba first when asked about players who'd progressed the most."I think he's probably improved as much as anybody," Wood said. "He had a good skill set coming in, but I think there were some areas that we identified, that he identified, that he could take some growth in, in terms of technique and fundamentals. I think he's doing that. He's understanding what we're doing, and he's playing at a high level."This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Behind the making of Texas Tech football DT Mateen Ibirogba
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