In the wake of the University of North Carolina football coaching change, Sanderson High defensive end Desmond Owino has switched his college choice from UNC to N.C. State. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound senior had never played football until last fall, but in his only season of competition gathered scholarship offers from N.C. State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Maryland and others.
He committed to UNC interim coach Everett Withers, who has been replaced as head coach by Larry Fedora.
"Desmond had some questions after the coaching change at North Carolina and he said he wanted to look at some other options," Sanderson coach Tony Lewis said. "He visited N.C. State and he decided that's where he wants to go to school. There is nothing negative about Carolina, he just decided he liked State better."
Owino knew nothing about American football when he began workouts and even needed assistance in putting on a uniform. He had come to the United States last spring from Kenya, where he played rugby.
"We put him at defensive end and told him to go to the football," Lewis said last fall. "He didn't always do exactly what he was supposed to do, but he went after the football.
"He just plays so hard. His motor doesn't idle. It is always full speed. If you knock him down, he is going to get up and keep coming. He never gives up on the play."
In his first scrimmage, Owino had six quarterback sacks from a defensive end position.
"He does all the things well that you can't teach," Lewis said. "He not only is big and runs fast, but he plays hard. He'll get knocked and chase after a play 30 yards away. He didn't know anything about football - he still doesn't know a lot - but he plays so hard and wants to learn."
Academics are very important to Owino.
His father, Simpson Owino, who manages the Shaba Shabu restaurant in Raleigh, already had brought his other two children to the United States from Nairobi, Kenya. Vivian Owino is working on a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Ohio State and Duncan Owino is studying environmental science at Washington State.
The idea of getting an athletic scholarship was foreign to Desmond and his father.
"Even my friends, people who understand football, are surprised because Desmond is getting college scholarship offers," Simpson Owino said during the process.
