Olu Oluwatimi is still adjusting to life in the transfer portal.
“It’s different, because I never really got recruited out of high school. I walked on to Virginia after I went to Air Force,” UVa’a All-American center pointed out on Monday. “I didn’t get as much love as some of the other guys.”
A fifth-year senior with the bonus COVID year of eligibility remaining, Oluwatimi entered the transfer portal last Monday, the same day he was named a finalist for this year’s Rimington Trophy. His name was immediately linked to some of the top programs in the country.
“The last week was stressful,” Oluwatimi admitted. “Dealing with finals, dealing with coaches hitting me up. Talking to my family an all that. Last week was very stressful.”
The decision to enter the transfer portal came after conversations with head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who had announced earlier this month that he’ll step down after UVa faces SMU in the Fenway Bowl on December 29th, and offensive line coach Garett Tujague. Both coaches encouraged Oluwatimi to explore all of his options, the center said on Monday.
Oluwatimi made a visit to Michigan this past weekend. Clemson has also been in contact with the second-team All-ACC selection, according to reports. Oluwatimi declined to discuss specifics of his recruitment while talking to reporters on Monday afternoon—“It’s the dead period. I guess I have no visits left,” he joked—following the introduction of new UVa football coach Tony Elliott, the former Clemson offensive coordinator.
Because of that trip to Michigan, Oluwatimi missed the Sunday meeting at UVa when Elliott was introduced to the team for the first time. He was scheduled to meet with Elliott later in the day on Monday, and didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to Virginia for his final season.
Teammates have been working on convincing Oluwatimi to stick around. They also provided a glowing recap of that team meeting with Elliott on Sunday.
“They all echoed that he’s a great person, great dude,” Oluwatimi said. “They feel like he has our best interest at heart.”
Coming out of Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic in 2017, Oluwatimi turned down a preferred walk-on spot at UVa and instead accepted an appointment to the US Air Force Academy. After a redshirt year at Air Force, he joined the Virginia program as a walk-on and sat out the 2018 season as a transfer.
Oluwatimi has started at center for all but one of UVa’s 36 games the last three seasons, including the last 32 straight. He’s been on scholarship since the 2019 season.
This fall, Oluwatimi earned FWAA second-team All-America honors and became the first UVa center ever named a finalist for the Rimington Trophy. According to PFF College, Oluwatimi graded out as the best center in the ACC in both overall performance (79.4) and as a run blocker (90.2). That run-blocking grade ranks third nationally; his overall grade 12th.
Given the uncertainty that has loomed over the UVa program since Mendenhall’s announcement, the outgoing coach and athletics director Carla Williams agreed that players who entered the transfer portal—as of Tuesday afternoon, the count was up to 11 since Bronco broke the news to the team—would still be given the opportunity to practice at UVa and play in the Fenway Bowl.
Oluwatimi made it clear on Monday that regardless of where he winds up after the season, he was not considering the option of opting out of the bowl game.
“I’m playing,” he stated. “Coach Mendenhall’s my guy. I’m definitely playing in that game.”
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