Jeff Okudah healthy and grateful for a fresh coaching start
Jeff Okudah’s rookie season in Detroit did not go the way anyone wanted. Despite being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, Okudah struggled as an instant starter at outside cornerback. A groin injury slowed the rookie from Ohio State, as did a coaching scheme and philosophy that just didn’t mesh with Okudah.
Now he’s healthy, invigorated by a new coaching staff and ready to prove in 2021 that the struggles of 2020 are a speck in the rearview mirror. Okudah revealed a lot in his first press conference since the season ended.
“It just feels like I have a different level that I wasn’t able to kind of tap into last year,” Okudah said of his recovery from groin surgery. “But I feel like this year just kind of moving around now and not having that pain in my groin anymore, it just feels like a different level so I’m excited to … get with (secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant), craft it up and see what it turns out to be.”
Okudah has some history with new Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. Before arriving at Ohio State, Okudah played on a Glenn-coached team at an elite camp. The familiarity helps, but so does the change in coaching tone. That was evident in Okudah’s tone when talking about the new coaching staff.
“Just sitting down with them, within the first couple meetings I was picking up so much things that I thought to myself, like, it would have just been nice to have these tools in my toolbox going into my rookie year,” Okudah said. “I’m still grateful to have them going into the second year, and I think that it’s only been two or three months and we still have all this work to do. It just has me excited how much more there is to learn, and how much better there is to get leading up to the season.”
Okudah is being counted upon to live up to the considerable draft value in his second season. Being healthy and happy with the new coaching staff is an encouraging start in that direction.
