Sophomore sparking intensity for Bulldogs in offseason
“You going to pick one off, Obi?”
“Planning on it.”
“Oh yeah?”
“No doubt.”
He is shifting his weight on the sideline during a passing-league contest at Live Oak High School, snapping his head toward his coaches after each play.
A week earlier, he intercepted seven passes at a full-contact Competitive Edge Camp at Leland High School. Today, he is eagerly waiting for “the nod” to go in, like any rookie would.
Finally, he does, and the kid draws a lengthy one-word serenade as he sprints onto the field, ready to hold down his corner against the rival Acorns.
“Obiiiiiiii.”
You would think Obi Mbonu has been starting at cornerback for years at Sobrato. Truth is, Mbonu’s high school career has just begun. His football career took off less than a year ago, when he was racking up touchdowns and tackles for the Pop Warner Morgan Hill Raiders. Now, the 5-foot-10 170-pound sophomore, who reportedly has clocked 11.2 seconds in the 100 meters, is on pace to start in the varsity Bulldogs’ secondary.
And people better get used to hearing — and pronouncing — his name.
“Obi is, simply, a hell of an athlete,” Sobrato coach Nick Borello said Tuesday. “We’re happy he’s here. It’s exciting to see how he developes and progresses through the rest of this summer and through his first season of high school football.”
So far, the grueling offseason has been a highlight-filled audition for Mbonu. He has traded hits and held his own against ‘A’-level receivers in passing league and at Competitive Edge Camps — and has surprised even himself.
“I’ve mostly just played basketball. So, yeah, I was little nervous at first playing high school football,” he said. “I was thinking of going JV at first because … people didn’t think I could do varsity. I was worried about that.
“I can handle this. I know I can.”
There is nothing egotistical about that last remark. As his peers will attest, Mbonu is a poster-boy ambassador for his team. His work ethic, not to mention his physical gifts, made him an instant star for coach Steve Sorce’s Midget Raiders, who reached the Peninula Semifinals in 2008.
“He has an overwhelming desire to learn,” Sorce said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “He’s such a good kid. He learns quickly and he hustles.
“He overachieved what I thought he would. He had the skills; he was big, fast, strong, but he grasped things so quickly. He wasn’t progressing step by step. He was leaps and bounds.”
Mbonu started at free safety for Sorce, but was known more for his ball-carrying. He averaged close to 150 yards rushing per game.
Don’t be surprised if Mbonu getting reps in Sobrato’s new wing-T offense by fall.
“I’m doing pretty good right now on defense. Offense, I’m starting on working at the running back position,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get there.”
In the words of his senior quarterback, Patrick Bacciarelli, Mbonu was “Reggie Bushing fools” during another Competitive Edge Camp at Leland this week.
“I knew he was going to be a stud. Obi is just outstanding,” Bacciarelli said. “He’s just an athlete, plain and simple. He’s the athlete.”
Mbonu’s presence has helped spark excitement for an embattled program. The Bulldogs have been practicing with much more intensity than last year, when the team was working its way through a coaching change. Sobrato has dominated its league foes at Competive Edge, showing confidence and swagger.
“We’re all just fired up to be out here,” Bacciarelli said. “I don’t know what it is. I think it’s just this team.”
Borello credited the Era of Good Feelings to his senior leaders and rising talent.
“It’s better this year than it was last year; less distractions, more guys just wanting to play football,” said Borello, who is entering his second year as head coach. “And that’s what we’ve kind of just tried to push. We only want good student athletes … We don’t want guys that have problems off the field or in the classroom.
“Obi is one of those good kids. I forget how good of an athlete he is because he’s such a good kid; a good young man, I should say.”
