The August sun beamed down on Adepoju Adebawore’s 6-foot-4 frame as he stood on Oklahoma’s rugby field, a place that had become both a proving ground and a sanctuary for the sophomore defensive end.
Here, everything felt different.
Adebawore had faced the brutal training of OU’s fall camp once before, and was seasoned by a year of college football. He looked noticeably different too, his frame bulkier and more pronounced in the sea of the Sooners’ 120-man roster.
Standing in the same place where he had struggled just a year ago, he now carried himself differently. He had mentally and physically outgrown the freshman version of himself.
The Big 12 version of Adepoju Adebawore.
“It is night and day,” Adebawore said when talking about how much has changed since last year. “There is just a better understanding. There is less thinking.”
In the absence of the thoughts that once consumed his transition to Oklahoma, Adebawore has had more time to eat and put on weight.
Last season, the defensive end weighed in at 240 pounds. As he headed into a conference with offensive linemen whose average weight is 314 pounds, Adebawore knew he had to change his physique.
“I was eating to put more weight on, so I could hang around more with the bigger guys,” Adebawore said. “It was about eating, lifting, taking it serious, having no off days and being committed to my goal.”
The relentless cycle of eating to gain, while consistently pushing his body to the limit as a student-athlete, began to take its toll. With each pound gained, Adebawore found himself increasingly repulsed by the thought of a dinner table — a once enjoyable act now reduced to a necessary evil.
Now, looking back, only the occasional post-practice burger sounded appetizing to Adebawore, with everything else only representing what was necessary.
“When you eat so much, there is really nothing good anymore,” Adebawore said. “Honestly, it was annoying. It was a grind. I didn’t like nothing. … I could eat anything for the most part, I just had to do it, stuff myself.”
After several months of working with OU’s nutrition staff to gain weight, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables got Adebawore on a scale. Then, he reached for his phone, looking to get a picture to send to defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis.
There Adebawore stood, as the scale read 260.
As the defensive end entered fall camp weighing 20 more pounds than he had a year ago, he had achieved the first of many goals. With the added weight, he could now shift his focus to refining other aspects of his game, fully aware that his sophomore season — and Oklahoma’s debut in the SEC — would bring a slew of new challenges.
Coming off a solid freshman year where he played in all 13 games for OU and had six tackles, three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, Adebawore has been mentally preparing for the grueling 12-game regular season slate that awaits — something sophomore safety Peyton Bowen has seen make a noticeable difference in his teammate’s game.
“I think PJ (Adebawore) is going to be a really excellent player,” Bowen said. “He has got the physique, he gained some weight and put on some pounds, and he’s an animal. I can see that he is getting that mental side as well, and I think he is in for a breakout year.”
The five-star prospect coming out of high school has had to adjust to the college game, learning how to live up to the new physical standards that have been set for him and the expectations that he has established for himself.
Just like Bowen, senior Danny Stutsman, who watched Adebawore all last season while playing behind him at linebacker, is excited for what’s next.
“Have you seen that guy?” Stutsman asked. “It’s hard not to be amazed by him. You see some of these pass-rush moves that he does throughout practice, you watch the film and you can’t teach that. The way he moves, how fluid he is with his motions, it’s amazing.”
Adebawore has fully leaned into the offseason the same way he has been invested in new defensive coordinator Zac Alley’s system since he was hired in January.
In the spring, the defensive end had just 15 practices to absorb everything Alley was trying to teach. Now, with the beginning of fall camp underway, Adebawore has embraced every opportunity to learn and improve before the start of the season.
“I think he is a great communicator and is really good at explaining,” Adebawore described Alley. “I also think he is really good at setting guys up for success.”
Oklahoma’s conference and Adebawore’s physique have changed, but the expectations — both personal and collective — have stayed the same.
As the sun dipped below the horizon at the rugby field, it was clear that this was not just another fall camp but the beginning of something much bigger for both Adebawore and the Sooners.
“The pressure is there, but we’re all for it,” Adebawore said.
This story was edited by Daniel Homrok and copy edited by Mary Ann Livingood and Avery Avery.
