Self-motivated Justin Eboigbe prepared for starting debut at Alabama

Martez Edwards didn’t expect Justin Eboigbe to already be starting for Alabama. Then again, he’s used to his former player getting things done sooner than expected.

Eboigbe is set to make his first start for the Crimson Tide this weekend as he fills in at defensive end for injured LaBryan Ray. It comes a week after the four-star freshman returned from a foot injury of his own and just nine months after he arrived at Alabama as an early enrollee. A quick turnaround, but nothing Eboigbe isn’t used to.

A month before arriving at Alabama, the Georgia native became one of the first players to graduate early from Forest Park High School.

Edwards didn’t start coaching Eboigbe until the end of his sophomore year. It wasn’t until then that the promising recruit first entertained the possibility of graduating early to give him a head start on his college career.

At that point, Edwards didn’t think it could be done. Eboigbe was already too late in the process and would essentially have to double his workload by taking online classes on top of his regular classes and football.

“The work that he had to turn in, even me as an above bachelor-degree educated man, I looked at that work and I wondered how they expected a high-school kid to be able to complete this and master it,” Edwards said. “They were online courses, so he basically had to teach himself, and the timelines were intense… It would have been easy for him to quit or flunk those courses. He really wanted it though. He’s a kid that truly wants to be great.”

The hard work paid off as Eboigbe was able to join the Crimson Tide in time to participate in spring camp. Over the next few months, he demonstrated the same amount of dedication to the weight room, filling out his 6-foot-5 frame to the 294 pounds he weighs today.

"I got to come watch him this spring, and his body has just transformed from a high school athlete to a college athlete,” Edwards said. “I didn’t expect to see him starting as a freshman at a place like Alabama, but it just kind of manifested to be that way. He’s a kid that’s going to give it his all every day, and he’s been busting his butt to get where he needed to be over the last few months.”

Eboigbe flashed his potential this spring, recording four tackles and a sack during the A-Day game. He carried that momentum into the fall where he was working with the second unit before suffering a stress fracture in his foot during practice leading up to the season-opener against Duke.

While the setback kept Eboigbe out of Alabama’s first two games, he was able to make his Crimson Tide debut during last week's game against South Carolina as took Ray’s spot in the first-team defense after the starter left due to injury.

“He’s a very young guy, but I think he knows the standard for what the D-Line guys do and I feel like he’s going to hold to that standard,” senior defensive lineman Raekwon Davis said. “I feel like he’s one of the young guys who has stepped up and is ready to show the world he can play big boy football.

“He’s got a fast get-off. He’s a twitchy guy. He likes to locate the ball fast. He’s very fun to watch.”

Edwards is no stranger to elite talent, having coached former New York Jets first-round pick Vernon Gholston and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham. He compared Eboige to the latter, stating the two share the same ability to get off the ball fast.

The former head coach still remembers one play during a jamboree game before Eboigbe’s junior year when the athletic defensive lineman burst into the backfield to meet a running back right as he was receiving a handoff.

“We did a D-line stunt to the B gap, and he hit the running back so hard he knocked his helmet off,” Edwards said. “It was almost identical to Jadeveon Clowney’s Outback Bowl hit against Michigan.”

Edwards still keeps in touch with Eboigbe as the two talk three or four times a week.

“If I answered the phone for him, it’d probably be every day,” Edwards joked. “There are some times where I don’t answer him because I’m busy myself.”

The conversations center around a variety of topics but often fall back to football. While Edwards still looks to provide guidance when he can, he’s found his former player generally has the ability to self-diagnose any of his struggles on the field.

“He’s not really the type of guy to tell you about his problems unless it’s something he can’t figure out,” Edwards said. “I taught him to be solution-oriented, so when there is a problem, he’s always trying to fix it himself. Typically when he tells me about a problem, he’s already come up with a solution he’s going to take to fix it.”

After failing to record any stats over 34 snaps against South Carolina last week, Eboigbe will look to make a bigger impact during his first college start against Southern Miss on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Head coach Nick Saban expressed confidence in the freshman defensive end Wednesday, stating he expects him to develop as the season progresses.

“We like him as a player, and he’s shown a lot of maturity as a player to be able to sort of do the things the way you need to do it,” Saban said. “And he always seems to play a little better in the game or in the scrimmage than he did in practice, which is the sign of a really good competitor.”

As for Edwards, he now knows better than to doubt his former player.

“He’s a unique player with his athleticism and self-motivation,” Edwards said. “You can see how much he wants it. I think he’ll go out there and play great football.”

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