Moro Ojomo is on the verge of a Super Bowl title thanks to following through on a vision
Building a culture is a process that includes a lot of growing pains. Just ask Moro Ojomo.
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Ojomo, who tallied 95 tackles and five sacks in a five-year career in burnt orange before becoming a seventh round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023, had a press conference in the spring of 2022 that publicized those growing pains in a way rarely seen.
Spending 25 minutes with the local media, there were a lot of soundbites that remain memorable to this day. That’s especially true now that Texas has moved past the 5-7 2021 season and turned into a regular College Football Playoff contender.
“This whole offseason, I think that me and a couple guys who have been here a minute have tried to be more outward focused and worried about the team, because the team is going to need to win however many games to go in whatever round we want to get drafted in,” Ojomo said at the time. “Working on actually being a family and a brotherhood is a huge focus this offseason.”
There was more.
“If we get our team right – I think Georgia has maybe five defensive people in the top fifty prospects,” Ojomo said. “You get your team right, we’re all getting drafted. I think they’re coming to that realization of if everyone in this D-line can contribute. We can all get drafted. We can all have our dreams be reality.”
And then this gem.
“They have to somehow see the 24-year-old, 25-year-old maybe signing their second contract in the NFL for $50 million as opposed to seeing the 20-year-old making $40k off of NIL, sleeping with women, drinking, and all that as opposed to, you’ve got $50 million,” Ojomo said. “You’re living in Spanish Oaks. You’re living in Westlake. Traveling when you want. You’ve got the Rolls Royce outside. That’s the life they have to see, and they have to understand that it just doesn’t happen on autopilot.”
Ojomo was not seen in media availabilities for some time after that day with the local press. Prominent voices in the national media posited that Texas was silencing Ojomo for the quote about womanizing and drinking, arguing it was a foolish decision by Texas’ media relations department to dampen a player’s reach especially in the onset of the NIL era.
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Ojomo was more likely kept away from the cameras because of specific mentions of certain players like Alfred Collins as well as possible position switches, small details that Steve Sarkisian, Pete Kwiatkowski, and others likely preferred to remain inside the halls of Moncrief instead of leaking out into the feeds of opposing coaches.
It’s not clear if Ojomo has a house in Westlake or Spanish Oaks quite yet. What is clear is that he held true to his own beliefs, as did players who followed him like T’Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy, Collins, and Vernon Broughton. Ojomo hustled after earning the seventh round selection to remain on the Philadelphia roster, overcoming a significant preseason neck injury in 2023 to remain part of the NFC Champion Eagles.
Philly’s front is loaded, with tackles like Jalen Carter leading the way. But Ojomo is a key part of the rotation, logging five tackles and a sack over the course of the Eagles’ playoff journey.
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He’s the lone Longhorn on the Eagles. On the precipice of the Vince Lombardi trophy, Ojomo remains a shining example for the Longhorns’ revamped culture and a person who was critical in making it into the strength of the program.
