Rome Odunze (WR)
Measurements:
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 212 pounds
Classification: Junior
School: Washington
Testing Numbers:
Arm: 32 1/4”
Hand: 9 1/4”
40: 4.45s
Broad: 10’4”
Vertical: 39”
Prospect Background:
“I think what people don’t talk about enough is how great of a person he is outside of football, like the most humble guy you could ever meet. Just an awesome guy all around. But as a football player, man, he’s just different. He’s the best receiver that I’ve seen or been with ever.”
These are words from Rome Odunze’s former Washington teammate Dillion Johnson.
In order to understand the player, you must first understand the person, and it’s not often I don’t come away impressed with Odunze each time I hear him speak.
He’s so self aware. Both of who he is as a person and prospect, but most importantly, he doesn’t shy away from who he can become. And much like his name sake, this Rome also wasn’t built in a day.
A lot of the aspects of his skillset clearly come from his work as a multi-sport athlete. Odunze’s background in track & field is very pronounced.
Odunze was named to the 2019 All-State team in Nevada. He won the 4A State title in the 200 meter (21.25) and 4×100 relay (41.36), finished fourth as a junior in the 100 meter (10.67) and second in 4A state meet as a freshman.
Despite missing four games as a sophomore in high school with a broken collarbone, Odunze finished with 121 receptions, 2699 yards, and 31 touchdowns in his HS career.
This led him to become a four star recruit, 22nd WR nationally and 2nd player in Nevada.
As a college prospect he became a Biletnikoff finalist, an All American, and arguably the greatest WR in Husky history becoming the second receiver in program history with multiple 1,000 yard seasons.
Stats:
- Freshman
- Rec: 41
- Targets: 69
- Yards: 415
- TDs: 4
- Sophomore
- Rec: 75
- Targets: 110
- Yards: 1145
- TDs: 7
- Junior
- Rec: 92
- Targets: 140
- Yards: 1639
- TDs: 13
Alignments/Number of Snaps:
- Slot
- 2021: 145
- 2022: 77
- 2023: 104
- Outside
- 2021: 117
- 2022: 408
- 2023: 490
Prospect Overview:
You don’t find many players that possess this combination of size and speed. While you wouldn’t necessarily classify him as a burner, Odunze has a multi-year track background stemming from his days at Bishop Gorman.
Much of which is on display his long strides, particularly as he showcases himself as a dominant vertical threat.
At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, Odunze has the build to box out defenders and use his massive catch radius to haul in passes that no mere mortal should be able to do (see Michigan St. 2023).
Outside of one rep against Michigan, Odunze does a great job of tracking the football and shows aggressive hands, snatching the football in.
He did a great job of improving his contested catch ability in 2023, after only catching 4 of 16 contested catch targets a year ago, that number jumped dramatically to 21 contested catch receptions on 28 targets.
Odunze is what I like to call a quantity route runner. He doesn’t necessarily emphasize attention to detail in terms of how he runs the route, but has an inept ability to find the space in the defense that is occupied by no one against zone coverage and on deep crossers.
While against man coverage, he showcases an understanding of how he wants to attack the DBs leverage, putting himself in advantageous position. That being said, Odunze has proven to be a three level threat with 35% of his targets deep, 25.7% of his targets intermediate, and 30.7% of his targets in the short area.
Odunze doesn’t project to be a big YAC guy at the next level though his bigger frame makes him more difficult to bring down upon initial contact.
I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen from him as a blocker both in the screen game and as a run blocker. He’s a very a physical player.
Odunze should enter as a day one starter, with alignments versatility and valuable blocking abilities.
Cover Image Credit: Steph Chambers/Getty Images
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