LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Two local star athletes were on the field Monday night, playing for a national championship.
Bishop Gorman alums Rome Odunze and Edefuan Ulofoshio came one game short of reaching the ultimate goal in college football. Their high school coach, Brett Browner, who just won the 2023 high school football national championship, is not surprised they made it that far.
“We talk about how great of players they are, but these are two real class act guys that are good high character kids,” Browner, who coached both Odunze and Ulofoshio at Bishop Gorman High School, told FOX5. “I know they’re great teammates. I can tell you that without even being on campus with those guys.”
Ulofoshio, a linebacker who initially walked onto the Husky team to earn his scholarship, was named First-Team All-Pac-12 this season. Odunze, a wide receiver, was named to the First-Team All-American squad and gained more receiving yards than any player in the nation in 2023.
“He grew when he was here,” Browner said of Odunze. “Then having that same kind of mindset when he went to Washington — he has that same kind of work ethic.”
Browner recalls that work ethic being apparent back on Bishop Gorman’s campus.
“When you’re already tired, it’s 110 degrees outside in Vegas, and you’ve got to push through — you’ve got to be the first guy to finish every single time. And that’s who he was,” he gushed about Odunze. “He wasn’t going to let anybody beat him.”
Browner knows both players are being coached well in college. In fact, Ulofoshio’s linebackers coach, Bill Inge, coached Browner when he was in college at Northern Iowa.
“I trust him fully,” Browner said of Inge. “I know who he is. He’s coached me. He’s mentored me for many, many years, so I just know they’re in such good hands.”
Both Odunze and Ulofoshio are projected to be selected by an NFL team in this spring’s draft, with Odunze largely expected to be picked in the top half of the first round.
Odunze finished Monday night’s game against Michigan as Washington’s top receiver with 87 yards.
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