Chetachi "Cheta" Ozougwu (born November 18, 1988) is a former

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 ...

. 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 ...

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

and was drafted with the final pick of the seventh round of the

2011 NFL Draft The 2011 NFL Draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL Draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York C ...

by the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

, his hometown team. He has also played for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Early life

Ozougwu graduated from

Alief Taylor High School Alief Taylor High School is a public high school in the Alief Independent School District. It is located in an unincorporated area in the Alief community of Harris County, near Houston. Opened in 2001, Alief Taylor is the newest high school in ...

. Ozougwu was selected to the All-District 18-5A and All Greater Houston teams, All-Academic District and Texas top 100 list. Ozougwu finished his senior year with 117 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss and 5 sacks. Ozougwu was selected to the 2007 Texas vs Louisiana All-Star game. Also lettered in track and basketball.

College career

He played

while amassing 197 total tackles and 11 sacks. In 2007, he earned Freshman All-American honors from The Sporting News and C-USA Honors. He received numerous athletic and academic awards during his time at Rice University. He was named to the ESPN Academic All-District VI Football Team in 2010, after posting a 3.41 GPA while majoring in Economics. He was one of 30 student-athletes in the country selected for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. He was named to the Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar Award 2nd Team and the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team in 2010. He was also named to the Commissioners Honor Roll each year at Rice. As a senior at Rice University, he received the Outstanding Senior Award presented by the Rice Student Association for service, leadership, and academic achievement.

Professional career

Houston Texans

He was drafted with the last pick in the seventh round of the

by the

, making him

Mr. Irrelevant Mr. Irrelevant is the nickname given to the last pick of the annual National Football League Draft. Although NFL drafts date back to 1936, the first person to be called Mr. Irrelevant was Kelvin Kirk of the 1976 NFL Draft. History "Mr. Irrelev ...

. On August 15, 2011, he made his first appearance in an NFL preseason game against the

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

on ''Monday Night Football''.

Chicago Bears

On April 11, 2012, Ozougwu signed with the Bears. During his preseason debut against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, Ozougwu sacked former Bear

Caleb Hanie Caleb Jeffrey Hanie (born September 11, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Colorado State and was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He also played for the Denver Bronco ...

, though the Broncos would go on to win 31–3. Ozougwu had an impressive preseason by leading the Bears in sacks during the 2012 preseason with three making the 53 man roster. On April 15, 2014, Ozougwu was waived. He appeared in nine games over the past two seasons, recording 9 tackles, one sack, one tackle-for-loss, one forced fumble and five special teams tackles. Ozougwu registered 6 tackles, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble during the 2013 season.

New Orleans Saints

On May 18, 2014, Ozougwu signed a contract with the

. On July 23, 2014, the Saints placed Ozougwu on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. In March 2015, the Saints decided to part ways with Ozougwu after he failed his season ending physical with an undisclosed injury.

References

External links

Rice Owls football bio

Chicago Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozougwu, Cheta 1988 births Living people Players of American football from Houston American people of Igbo descent Igbo sportspeople American sportspeople of Nigerian descent American football defensive ends American football linebackers Rice Owls football players Houston Texans players Chicago Bears players New Orleans Saints players