Azeez Ojulari comes home to give back

MARIETTA — Saturday morning, Azeez Ojulari was introduced as a Marietta Blue Devils legend.

Trying to live up to that standard, he stood amongst 125 young football players, ready to host the first Azeez Ojulari Elite Football Camp at Northcutt Stadium, give back to his alma mater and put his new students on a path that might, someday, lead them to where Ojulari currently sits in the NFL.

The second-year New York Giants linebacker and former Georgia Bulldog said the idea for the camp came easily.

“We thought about it,” Ojulari said. “It’s my hometown, and it’s a chance to give back to the kids. This is where I started, and it’s all about helping them get better.”

From 9 a.m. to noon, Ojulari was joined by his brother, B.J., another former Blue Devil and now linebacker at LSU who hopes to soon join him in the NFL. Members of the Marietta coaching staff and current players were also in attendance as they put children ages 7-12 through the paces to help them prepare for their upcoming fall schedule.

For Azeez Ojulari, it was a special homecoming that brought back a lot of memories from his playing days, although with a few exceptions.

For one, the camp was being held on the now three-year-old artificial surface at Northcutt Stadium. The last time Ojulari played at Northcutt, it was still a grass field. It was a time that he, his brother and teammates Arik Gilbert, Rashad Torrance, Harrison Bailey and Ramel Keyton helped Marietta’s football program return to being one of the area’s top teams.

“The field is lovely. it’s really nice,” Ojulari said. “(Getting the program back) was the realization of all the hard work. For me and my brother, helping turn around the team is what I dreamed of.”

After a successful career at Georgia, where he was second-team all-Southeastern Conference and MVP of the Peach Bowl in his final season, Ojulari was the second-round pick of the Giants in 2021.

Ojulari made an immediate impact, playing in all 17 games as a rookie, with 13 starts. He was third among all rookies with eight sacks and finished the year with 49 tackles, 13 quarterback hits and eight tackles for loss.

Ojulari said he is ready for a bigger, more dominant second season, now that he understands what it means to be an NFL player — and a New Yorker.

“It’s so fast (in New York),” said Ojulari, who will report to training camp July 26. “Everything is so tight. It’s not spread out like it is here in Marietta, but my whole goal is to keep getting better.

“I just want to win. Right now, it’s all conditioning, but I’m ready to go and be a team leader for my guys.”