Ade Ogundeji’s six-year journey from low three-star recruit destined for the Mid-American Conference to Notre Dame starter to NFL player is complete.
The Atlanta Falcons selected Ogundeji, a 6-4, 260-pound defensive end, in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He was the No. 182 overall pick and the eighth Notre Dame player drafted this year.
The eight draft selections are tied for the second-most in program history since the NFL went to the seven-round draft format in 1994. Notre Dame also had eight players drafted in 2014.
With his selection, all four of Notre Dame’s 2016 defensive end signees became draft picks. Daelin Hayes was picked earlier in the fifth round this year by the Baltimore Ravens, and Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem were selected in 2020.
In 2020, his lone full year as a starter, Ogundeji notched a team-high 7.0 sacks to go with 23 tackles as the primary strong-side defensive end. He had a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a team-high 37 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus.
At Notre Dame’s pro day, he displayed some impressive physical traits and measurables. He has 35.5-inch arms, a 7-foot wingspan and 9.5-inch hands. He ran a 4.71-second 40-yard dash, 4.65 20-yard shuttle and 7.13 three-cone drill. His broad jump was 10 feet. It’s easy to see the athletic upside.
A 2020 starter and 2019 important rotation player, Ogundeji’s career arc is a testament to Notre Dame’s developmental abilities – particularly on the defensive line. Then-defensive line coach Keith Gilmore spotted him as a recruit at Notre Dame’s 2015 big man camp and was intrigued.
It didn’t matter Ogundeji was a low-grade three-star barely above 200 pounds as a high school senior-to-be. or that he was committed to play for Western Michigan. In June 2015, Gilmore offered Ogundeji, a product of Walled Lake (Mich.) Central, brought him on a campus visit two days later and secured his commitment within a month.
Ogundeji arrived at Notre Dame in June 2016 as a 17-year-old still cloaked in mystery. His high school senior season was sideswiped by a knee injury after four games. There was a mutual understanding his climb to earning playing time might take a couple years. Sure enough, he redshirted in 2016 and played in just five games in 2017.
In 2018, though, after some senior departures at defensive end, Ogundeji broke into the rotation as a backup to strong-side starter Khalid Kareem. He played 272 snaps in 13 games, notching 10 pressures, 1.5 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
As a senior, he was a sub-package starter, Kareem’s No. 2 and played 348 snaps. When starting vyper end Julian Okwara was lost for the season in early November, Ogundeji’s workload jumped. He averaged 36.7 snaps in his final four games, including a 63-snap outing in a start at Stanford.
All told, he had 34 tackles (7.0 for loss), 4.5 sacks and 23 pressures. Every one of his sacks came in that stretch. He posted the second-highest overall PFF grade of any Notre Dame defender in 2019.
Ogundeji returned for a fifth season and the chance to start. By that point, an NFL future felt possible if he had a productive final year. He became Notre Dame’s most consistent rusher and earned a Senior Bowl invitation. While in Mobile, he met face-to-face with nearly every NFL team.
“It was a great opportunity to prove myself and that I’m not just a guy who’s developmental,” Ogundeji said in March. “I’m a guy who can play and go play at a very high level.”
Heading into the draft, Ogundeji’s range of outcomes stretched across the entire third day. Some analysts and mock drafts pegged him as an early fourth-round pick. Other seven-round mocks had him going in the final two rounds or not at all.
Per Spotrac’s rookie wage scale, Ogundeji’s four-year deal will be worth $3,720,150.
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