Catching up with Clemson commit Orhorhoro
By: Gavin Oliver October 15, 2018

Clemson commitment Ruke Orhorhoro is in the midst of a fine senior season. The defensive lineman from River Rouge (Mich.) High School is filling up the stat sheet and helping his team get in the win column on a regular basis.

It is just the second season of football for Orhorhoro, a native of Nigeria who moved to the United States when he was a kid and didn’t start playing the sport until he was a junior in 2017. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound prospect quickly caught the attention of college coaches and saw his recruitment explode as the result of his performance on the field.

Ultimately, Orhorhoro decided to commit to Clemson in June over finalists Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana and 20 other scholarship offers.

Orhorhoro received an offer from Clemson in April and visited the school just once before giving his pledge to the Tigers. He then returned to campus for the All In Cookout in July, and he plans to make his official visit to Clemson during the weekend of the Tigers’ game against Duke on Nov. 17. Clemson defensive end coach Lemanski Hall is slated to visit River Rouge High this Friday to watch Orhorhoro play in his team’s regular season finale vs. Southfield Arts and Tech (Southfield, Mich.).

The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Orhorhoro about his final season of high school football and much more:

TCI: How is your senior season going?

Orhorhoro: “It’s going really great. My team is currently 7-1, looking to be 8-1 this week. I’m playing better than I have last year. I’ve got about 12 sacks. I think I have over 20 TFLs right now. I have a touchdown, two forced fumbles… It’s going pretty good.”

TCI: You mentioned the defensive touchdown you scored. How did it feel to find the end zone as a defensive player?

Orhorhoro: “It felt great. I was on the other side. I’m taught to chase the play down, so I saw my teammates tackling him, and then the ball just came out. I was about to stop running after I thought they jumped on him, and I jumped on it and I just took it all the way to the house. It felt pretty good because I made a bet with my other D-linemen that I was going to be the first one to get a touchdown this season. Jaylen Henderson, my other side (on the D-line), got the touchdown last year. But I imagined my touchdown would be like a pick-six or something. I didn’t imagine it to be like that, but I’m planning to get a pick-six also.”

TCI: What are you hearing from Clemson’s coaches as you go through your senior season and get ready to join the Tigers next year?

Orhorhoro: “I hear from them every day. We talk every day. We have a great relationship. I can’t wait to go down there and catch a game.”

TCI: What does it mean to you that Coach Lemanski Hall is coming all the way out to Michigan to watch you play this Friday?

Orhorhoro: “It feels great, man, because it’s not that close of a distance and he’s coming to watch me play. I feel honored to even have the opportunity to bring him in to my school and be the first person from Michigan to go there in a while.”

TCI: What do you feel you need to do to get yourself ready for the next level before you arrive to Clemson in January?

Orhorhoro: “We lift a lot during the season, but I feel like I have to turn it up a notch, lift a lot more, condition harder. I have to start watching what I eat now. Just turn it up a notch because the next level is not easy. People can say it’s easy all they want, but I know personally it’s not. So, you have to have the right mindset and the right focus to be able to go there and compete at the highest level.”

TCI: Looking ahead, do you have any goals for your freshman season at Clemson?

Orhorhoro: “Just whatever I can do to help my team win a national championship. That would be great.”

TCI: What can Clemson fans expect to see from you on the field in the future?

Orhorhoro: “Just a hard-working person who will give it their all for the name in the front so they can remember the name in the back.”