Choosing where to attend college may be a daunting decision for most students, but for senior Joe Onuwabhagbe, the choice wasn’t difficult at all.

Although he played baseball growing up, Onuwabhagbe decided to try out for football in middle school after seeing his friends play the sport. He started fostering a natural talent for football and focused solely on the sport and his academics throughout high school; now, he plans to continue playing football in college. 

On Aug. 19, Onuwabhagbe committed to play defensive end for Dartmouth College, an NCAA D1 private university located in Hanover, NH. Dartmouth is one of the eight schools that comprise the Ivy League. 

“Dartmouth was the first school to send me an offer, which was important because they took a chance [on] me,” Onuwabhagbe said. “To get a football offer was something that I’ve worked toward for so long. Having it be Dartmouth was just like a cherry on top of everything — it took me a couple days to process it. [The recruitment] was a crazy experience.” 

Onuwabhagbe also received offers from the Air Force Academy and Lafayette College, but decided to go with Dartmouth because the school aligned best with his educational goals.

“I plan on studying business management and finance, [and I’m] hoping to pursue a career in real estate,” Onuwabhagbe said.

Assistant football coach Jareko Lovett, who has coached Onuwabhagbe for the past two years, has seen him grow not only as an athlete, but as a leader. Lovett is especially appreciative of Onuwabhagbe helping the team when they faced shortages in certain positions.

“Joe has played multiple positions to help the team,” Lovett said. “Instead of only playing the position that he’s being recruited for, he has also played offensive line [to fill in for the position shortage]; it’s not an easy task but he accepted it as an opportunity and did a great job.”

Senior Takoda Bridges has been a close friend and teammate of Onuwabhagbe since freshman year.  

“He is an all-around great young man,” Bridges said. “I’m super proud and happy for him; he worked really hard for this and this school is a great fit for him.” 

Lovett said Onuwabhagbe’s strengths as both a talented athlete and an academically motivated student not only make him an excellent leader for the football team, but his efforts help change the perception of student athletes. 

“Athletes are often stereotyped to not care about academics, but Joe is the complete opposite of that,” Lovett said. “He’s changing the perception of student athletes; we definitely need more guys like him.”