Jamiu Bolaji "BJ" Ojulari (born April 5, 2002) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Early years

Ojulari grew up in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...

, 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 The ''Marietta Daily Journal'' (MDJ) is a daily newspaper published in Marietta, Georgia. It has a daily paid circulation of approximately 17,000 copies, and covers local, national and international news. It is the primary local newspaper of C ...

''. Ojulari initially committed to play

at Tennessee, but flipped his commitment to LSU during senior season.

College career

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 The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) All-Freshman team. 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. 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.

Professional career

Ojulari was drafted by the

in the second round, 41st overall, of the

2023 NFL Draft The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...

Personal life

Ojulari's parents immigrated to the United States from Nigeria and his maternal grandfather was the

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

artist

Twins Seven Seven Twins Seven Seven, born Omoba Taiwo Olaniyi Oyewale-Toyeje Oyelale Osuntoki (3 May 1944 – 16 June 2011) was a Nigerian painter, sculptor and musician. He was an itinerant singer and dancer before he began his career as an artist, first attendin ...

. His older brother,

Azeez Ojulari Azeez O. Ojulari (born June 16, 2000) is an American football outside linebacker and defensive end for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia and was drafted by the Giants in the second ro ...

, played college football for the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

before being drafted by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the second round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bio

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ojulari, BJ 2002 births Living people American football defensive ends Players of American football from Marietta, Georgia LSU Tigers football players American sportspeople of Nigerian descent American people of Yoruba descent Yoruba sportspeople Arizona Cardinals players