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Eastern Washington: J.J. Njoku, DB
JJ Njoku worked long hours behind the scenes and was rewarded with a starting position. (Eastern Washington Athletics)
Eagles head coach Beau Baldwin said he always has a number of guys who could fit the "unsung hero" bill in terms of grinding and doing things right. When it came down to it, though, he knew who his guy was.
"I would probably say a guy like JJ Njoku because he's been a starter on our defense ever since about Week 2," coach Baldwin said. "He's a senior who walked on at one point at WSU and it wasn't the right fit. He moved back home to Tacoma and talked to his high school coach, and a year later he felt like he didn't want to give it up and we were in contact and we told him we'd give him an opportunity to walk on and give it a shot," Baldwin said. "He's gone from being a walk-on guy, to not being sure if he would make the roster each year, to a guy that's now a senior and I consider one of our better leaders in the locker room. Now he became a starter, and earned some scholarship money. He worked his tail off, any of those voluntary workouts he was always doing them, he does more stuff when no one's looking and that's what's led him to having an impact on the team."
In eight games, Njoku has 24 total tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. He replaced Cole Karstetter in the starting lineup after he ruptured his achilles, an injury that Njoku suffered himself after transferring to Eastern.
Fun fact: One of the games Njoku played in for Washington State was against Eastern in 2012.
