No. 9 – Arizona Cardinals | |||||||||
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Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Marietta, Georgia, U.S. | April 5, 2002||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 256 lb (116 kg) | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Marietta | ||||||||
College: | LSU (2020–2022) | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 2023 / round: 2 / pick: 41 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
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Roster status: | Injured reserve | ||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
Career NFL statistics as of 2024 | |||||||||
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Jamiu Bolaji "BJ" Ojulari (born April 5, 2002) is an American professional football linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at LSU.
Ojulari grew up in Marietta, Georgia, and attended Marietta High School. As a senior, he set a school record with 19 sacks and was named the Area Defensive Player of the Year with Marietta Daily Journal . [1] Ojulari initially committed to play college football at Tennessee, but flipped his commitment to LSU during senior season. [2]
Ojulari played in all ten of LSU's games as a freshman and finished the season with 16 tackles, four sacks, and five tackles for loss with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery and was named to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) All-Freshman team. [3] He was named the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week after sacking South Carolina quarterback Collin Hill three times for a loss of 21 yards. [4] Ojulari was named the conference Defensive Lineman of the Week a second time after a 2½ sack performance in a 49-21 win over Central Michigan in the third week of his sophomore season. [5]
Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||||
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6 ft 2+3⁄8 in (1.89 m) | 248 lb (112 kg) | 34+1⁄4 in (0.87 m) | 10+1⁄2 in (0.27 m) | 7.57 s | 33.5 in (0.85 m) | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) | 24 reps | |||||
Sources: [6] [7] |
Ojulari was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round, 41st overall, of the 2023 NFL draft. [8] As a rookie, he appeared in all 17 games in the 2023 season. He finished with four sacks, 40 total tackles (23 solo), and one pass defended. [9]
On August 2, 2024, Ojulari suffered a torn ACL, ruling him out for the 2024 season. [10]
Ojulari's parents immigrated to the United States from Nigeria and his maternal grandfather was the Yoruba artist Twins Seven Seven. [11] His older brother, Azeez Ojulari, played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs before being drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft. [12] [13]
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