It is not every day — read: ever — an under-the-drinking-age lineman from the Mid-American Conference leaves school early to enter the NFL draft.
But then Ola Adeniyi has always operated a little ahead of schedule.
When he was 8, Ola and his mother and brother emigrated from Nigeria to Houston. The first order of business: a school placement test. Ola’s age suggested he begin in third grade. The assessment said fifth. Mom split the difference.
“She decided to hold me back,” Ola said.
As it were, he graduated high school at 16 and will receive his degree in marketing from Toledo this spring at 20.