It takes thirty-six characters to correctly spell this young man’s name, but it only takes about thirty-six seconds to be thoroughly impressed with the young man behind the name. Adekunle Oluwabusyomi Olusanya Akinnuga translates into “God will always be my blessing” and after spending some time with him recently it’s quite apparent that he is working hard on and off the field to prepare himself for those blessings.
Listed on the roster as Adekunle Olusanya, the 5’10” 200lb member of the Class of 2013 is looking to make an even greater impact in his new role at Strong Safety for the Gryphons. A position change from his Outside Linebacker role as a freshman and a sophomore. Good things are expected from AK though and his numbers bear reason for that. As a freshman, he averaged only a couple of tackles a game. This past season, he tripled that with a 6 tackle average from the OLB spot with season-high 10 against Blake, as well as three games with 8 tackles in each.
AK prefers playing OLB to the middle for one simple reason. “I love to cover. It’s also quite the thinking man’s position too. You’ve got to be able to read and react instantly to the pass or run.” Olusanya is not without some very honest and critical assessments of his abilities at the moment. Something that speaks to his level of maturity already. “I’ve got to get better at coverages; backpedaling, as well as working on getting quicker feet.”
One thing that AK recognizes about his game however is something that is hard to coach, and that’s something the great ones possess. “I really pride myself on my reaction time. The ability to make up ground quickly and make the play.”
Olusanya’s Cousin is the starting QB at Gaither (Shug Oyegunle), but clearly the has already made up his mind who the toughest QB’s he’s faced so far. “As far as passing goes, the quarterback at Wharton [Chase Litton] was amazing. As far as overall, it’s definitely Josh Grady. He could do it all.” As far as his influences at the position, AK is quick to credit Scott O’Donoghue (who averaged 12 tackles a game for Sickles his senior season) as the guy who was most influential so far. Off the field, it’s his Dad with his military background that serves as the driving force behind the scenes.
In the classroom, AK’s favorite subject is Science. “I like working with the chemicals and their effects within different medicines, stuff like that.” My follow-up question was immediately about the possibility of finding a program that offered Pre-Med in addition to football, “Maybe….one thing’s for sure, education is first so it whatever program it is, it’s [academic reputation] going to have an influence on my decision in the future.”
For now, AK and his Sickles Teammates are gearing up for challenging district schedule with Jefferson, Armwood, Hillsborough, and King among others this fall. Obviously it’s no easy task, but AK is certainly not shying away from it in the least. “We have tremendous amount of respect for those teams. We understand how good they are, but we’ve also got to believe we’re just as good. We have to compete. There’s a lot of people out there (pointing towards the weight room) that are working hard this offseason and coming with the right mentality.”