4. Inspired by late mother
Okudah has paid tribute in multiple ways to his mother, who passed away in 2017 after a hard-fought battle with lymphoma.
Three years after her passing and ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, Okudah wrote a letter to her via The Players' Tribune. In the heartfelt note, he reflected on navigating her death as a freshman at Ohio State and the coaches and friends who supported him.
I hope knowing that makes you smile a little, Mom — just knowing that we really did end up choosing the right school. It's probably not very often that someone can know they picked the right college to go to after only a week of being there….. but for me that's what it was like with Ohio State. […] It felt like the entire school was there for me — checking on me, rallying around me, sharing in my pain.
Okudah shared his college journey through the eyes of his mom and thanked family members who also had helped prepared him for taking steps to the NFL.
I'm sure teams will ask me about you.
*They'll ask me about my upbringing. They'll ask me about my mom, Marie, who passed away. They'll try to figure me out, by trying to figure you out. And honestly, I can't wait.
Because I'll just tell them the truth.
I'll tell them that we never had the most money, in terms of our financial situation. And that we didn't have the most time, in terms of our years we got to spend together. But we had the most love — that's for sure. We had more love than anyone could ever imagine.*
Click here to read the letter in its entirety.