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The Chargers could be in the market for a big, powerful running back as they have a meeting scheduled with TCU RB/FB Sewo Olonilua, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.
TCU RB Sewo Olonilua @SOlonilua33 has video conferences with Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens; he interviewed with Texans at NFL scouting combine @footwork_king1 @TCUFootball @HumbleISD_KHS @ScottCasterline
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 7, 2020
Olonilua is one of the largest running backs in this class at 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds. He spent most of his time in in college splitting the snaps out of the backfield for the Horned Frogs so we never got to see what he could do with the lion’s share of the carries. Most recently, he shared rushing responsibilities with “Jet” Anderson who is also in this year’s draft class.
Sewo Olonilua is a fascinating RB. Moves extremely well for 6'3", 232, but he still plays to his size. This is great leg churn by him. Those feet never stop moving.pic.twitter.com/x7n1AMTqTy
— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) April 6, 2020
As a sophomore in 2017, Sewo played sparingly, rushing for 330 yards on 64 carries but scored seven touchdowns as a short-distance back. He saw his carries double in 2018 when he led the team in rushing with a career-best 635 yards but only found the end zone twice that year. Sewo saw the same amount of carries again this past season and finished 537 yards to go along with a team-high eight touchdowns. He also caught 19 passes for another 166 yards.
Sewo tested fairly well across the board at the NFL Combine. His 4.66 forty wasn’t terribly surprising as he’s known to have better build-up speed than burst out of the gate but explosion numbers were solid at 36 inches in the vertical and 10’3 in the broad. He’s a weight room warrior as well. Just check out this video of him squatting 700 pounds:
#TCU RB Sewo Olonilua squatting over 700 pounds pic.twitter.com/LELISnco6g
— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) February 16, 2019
Some draft analysts have Sewo potentially switching to fullback at the next level but I don’t know realistic that is since one of his biggest knocks is that he has to work on his pass protection to be successful at the next level. He’s a very versatile player in the end and could be used in a myriad of ways. While at TCU, Sewo often lined up at Wildcat quarterback near the goal line and made his money off finding pay-dirt that way.
In the end, he’s got athletic upside and can be coached up to fill a variety of roles on an offense. Pairing him with a head coach who is a running backs coach at heart wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.