It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Chris Ogbonnaya was a three-star recruit at receiver
coming out of high school and not many people figured he’d ever be a vital part of the Longhorn offense.
Last year he got his feet wet as the third down back behind Jamaal Charles. But with Charles leaving school early for the NFL draft, and top running back recruit Darrell Scott choosing Colorado over Texas, the senior running back suddenly became an impor tant
piece of the unfinished puzzle that is the Texas offense.
“Major [Applewhite] told me I need to be a first down, second down and third down guy,” Ogbonnaya said. “Whatever this team calls me to do is really what I’m going to do.”
Ogbonnaya will battle with sophomore Vondrell McGee and redshirt freshman Fozzy Whitaker for the starting job. At his Aug. 25 press conference, Brown announced that Whitaker fell behind in the race due to a minor injury. That means Ogbonnaya has plenty of time to shine in Saturday’s game against Florida Atlantic.
“We’ll play who gets hot,” said offensive coordinator Greg Davis. “[Chris] has just been here forever and he knows [the offense] about as good as anybody. He’s tremendous in the blitz pick-up game, he’s got great hands.”
Last year as the third down back, Ogbonnaya rushed for 224 yards and caught 29 passes for 252 yards. He’s been known mainly as a blocker and a pass catcher out of the backfield. In fact, Ogbonnaya may line up at flanker some.
His reputation as just a third down back is something Ogbonnaya has worked hard to change in the off-season.
The back took part in an extreme conditioning program to lose weight and become quicker. He also changed his diet. The back stopped eating Mc-Donald’s and started eating salads.
“It was difficult, but it had to be done,” Ogbonnaya said. “I think the weight that I lost has definitely helped with my lateral quickness, and that’s just something I’m going to keep working on.”
One skill he didn’t need to hone is his leadership ability.
“Chris is a senior, and he’s such a great leader,” said junior center Chris Hall. “If you guys could have been around in summer and off-season workouts, you would have seen that.”
Ogbonnaya’s leadership extends to the classroom, where he graduated last spring with a degree in history. He’s working toward getting another degree in communications. Ogbonnaya, who hosts an Internet sports show, aspires to be a sports broadcaster some day.
While being a sportscaster may be a long-term goal of his, one thing Ogbonnaya is looking
toward in the short term is possibly taking a trip to his father’s homeland of Nigeria after football season is over.
“I haven’t been since 1999 because I’ve been so busy with football,” Ogbonnaya said. “I’ve been talking about it with my father and I’d really like to go soon and may have the chance when I’m done with football.”
Of course that doesn’t mean he’d like to see the season to be over anytime soon. As a young member of the 2005 national championship team, Ogbonnaya would like the chance to win another one — this time as a team leader.
“When I was younger, I would look up to the guys who were leading our run to the championship, so I want to make sure the younger guys understand what they should be working for,” Ogbonnaya said. “I want my senior year to mean a lot to me, and I’ve shown that in workouts.”
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