Who Is Amani Oruwariye?
Amani Oruwariye started playing for Gaither High School in Tampa, FL. During his time with Gaither, Amani was a star and managed to win his team MVP, while also receiving an invite to the Hillsborough County All-Star game. Amani became a top 100 player in the state of Florida, becoming a three-star recruit and committed to Vanderbilt University at the beginning of his senior year. Soon after committing, he followed Head Coach James Franklin and changed his commitment to Penn State.
During his time with Penn State, Amani managed to snag eight interceptions, with seven of them in his junior and senior year. Additionally, Oruwariye had twenty pass deflections and racked up over 100 tackles over four years.
Why is he the “Lions Gem”?
Amani Oruwariye is going to be a stud for the Detroit Lions and has shown flashes of being a diamond in the rough.
When the Lions drafted Amani in the 2019 NFL Draft, they knew that he was not going to walk right into the league and perform at a top-level, giving fans low expectations for Amani. During his rookie campaign, Amani was underwhelming, playing to his expectations. He played a slim five games, but managed to grab two interceptions.
While Amani was a ball hawk during these five games, but he had not done much else. Each game he played though, Lions fans noticed the potential in Amani. During the offseason, the Lions matched Amani up with third overall pick Jeff Okudah. The Lions were starting to make big moves, starting to create a young CB core that would develop and grow over time.
As the 2020 season has gone along, Amani has absolutely shocked most fans with his unbelievable performances. Amani has a 46.4% completion rate, which is some of the lowest in the league so far. Adding onto this, Amani has started all 6 games so far, managing to give QB’s a 66.4 QBR when he is targeted, compared to last season’s 107.0 QBR. Furthermore, last year in total, Amani had 19 tackles. This year, he has 13 combined tackles. Amani is on pace to obliterate his career-high from the season prior.
Overall, from what we’ve seen so far from Amani, Lion’s fans are in good hands with a very young and promising secondary. Amani Oruwariye still has large potential, as it is only his second season with the Lions, and the sky is the limit for him as each new game comes his way.
My name is Jasper Warner, I am a 17-year-old sports journalist from Petoskey, Michigan. I am currently in the progress of my senior year of high school and I am enrolling into Central Michigan University over the summer to Major in journalism and hope to continue my dream job of sports journalism in the real world.
