Mike Onwenu Has Slimmed Down, Reveals His New Weight At The NFL Combine
Conditioning and stamina have always been a question mark surrounding former Michigan Wolverines football right guard Mike Onwenu, who played this past season at 350 pounds.
His endurance in 2019 was the best it had been during his collegiate career, with coaches proudly declaring before the season that he no longer needed to take breaks to get through an entire practice.
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Onwenu was asked today at the NFL combine in Indianapolis what he currently weighs, and he revealed he is down to 344 pounds.
He was also quick to point out he has always had more muscle than fat on him, after someone asked whether or not he’ll be looking to trim off some of the latter.
“Everyone is big and strong in high school, but you have to be more than that in college,” he explained today. “You have to learn how to actually play and know the ins and outs of the game.
“I just love pushing myself. You have to know the mental aspect to be able to take your job seriously; the physical aspect is important as well, but so is the mental side.”
Onwenu’s football IQ may be higher than the majority of the other offensive linemen’s in this year’s draft, thanks to his past experience on defense.
The Detroit native bounced between both offensive guard and defensive tackle as a freshman at Michigan in 2016, before eventually settling in at the former.
NFL teams were unsurprisingly curious to hear more this week about his time on the defensive interior.
“I’ve talked with them about how I’ve played defensive tackle in the past,” he began. “I’d primarily be a run stuffer [if I were to play it again], so I’d know what to do.
“There’s plenty of guard talk too. I’ve spoken with 15 to 20 NFL teams since I’ve been here. I did interviews at the Shrine Game too [in January in St. Petersburg, Fla.], so this is nothing new for me.
“My message to them is that I have dedication and am willing to put in the hard work, and that I’m a player who will do whatever I have to do.
“We really get to know each other during these interviews, with a lot of the talk being about football IQ. They’ll run you through a play, and it’s a good learning experience to adapt one of theirs to what you already know.”
Onwenu experienced several different offensive systems during his four years at Michigan, with Tim Drevno running the show in 2016 and then working alongside Pep Hamilton in 2017 before the latter took control in 2018, with Josh Gattis arriving to take over this past season.
“We ran the pro-style offense my first years and then switched to the spread,” Onwenu recalled. “It’s been nice having a mixture of both and knowing how to run all of those plays.”
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