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Obiozor blossoms at DE with Harrington, Bennett

Special to the Eagle

Cyril Obiozor has stepped up at defensive end for Texas A&M this season, starting and rotating at the two end positions with Michael Bennett and Chris Harrington. The 6-foot-5, 266 pound Obiozor talks about consoling a former teammate, his late start in football, the Texas Tech game and living with the Bennett brothers.

Q: After the victory over Oklahoma State, you raced across the field and spoke with Quinton Moore, whose roughing the punter penalty took away the Cowboys' final chance to win. What did you say to him?

A: He was on my team in high school [at Pearland], and once you've played with a group of guys, you never forget them. You always have them somewhere in your mind, and I saw he made a play that he wishes he had back, so I went over to talk to him and told him it was OK, that it happens sometimes and to keep your head up, keep playing.

Q: How did he react?

A: I could definitely see the frustration on his face. He called me later on and told me he really appreciated me coming over and talking to him about it. I just told him keep playing. There is always the next play. He told me he was so frustrated. He actually sent me a message on Facebook. He said, "I was sorry for not coming over and talking to you. It's just that play had me so frustrated." I could understand that.

Q: You won Most Improved Player your senior season in high school. Did you begin playing football late?

A: My thing was I really didn't have the instinct for the game. I had a lot of raw talent, but the game wasn't instinctive for me. I started playing at about eighth or ninth grade. I played running back and receiver, and cornerback was my first position. My senior year in high school I was 225-235 pounds, but by then I was up at the defensive line.

Q: As a unit, how do you feel you've done at sacking the quarterback?

A: We could definitely improve at pressuring the quarterback. For us, the big thing is putting the offense behind the line. If we can get a tackle behind the line, a tackle for a loss, that's equally as valuable for us as getting a sack, because we're moving the offense back. But, yeah, we definitely could be improving on our sacks. We should, and I think we will. We feel like we get a lot of pressure on the guy, force him out of the pocket, make him move and make the throws that he doesn't want to throw. So we feel pretty good about that.

Q: How different is it going up against Texas Tech's offensive line and its wide splits?

A: The thing is when they split their line, it splits our line. I don't think it causes too many problems. You think there are holes there, but they close really quickly, so we'll pretty much play it the same.

Q: The Bennett brothers both say they are the house champion in Madden '08. Is that true?

A: It's not like they say it is. I have a pretty good streak going right now. If you ask Martellus, I think I've won 10 to 15 in a row against him, and Michael hasn't beaten me in a while, so I'm pretty much sitting on top as far as Madden goes in the house. We've got Halo, too. A lot of people on the team play Halo. We get online with the team and play it and kill each other.

Q: Is it an advantage living with Michael Bennett, someone who also plays your position?

A: We help each other out a lot. If he sees something I need to do better, he'll tell me in there and vice versa. We talk football all the time. It's a good thing. We have a lot of things in common, but that's the biggest thing, playing football for Texas A&M. Me and Michael, we play the same position, and even Martellus, he plays the opposing position, so we give each other tips. Martellus will say, "Cyril, when you come off the ball like this, it's easy for me to do this," and I'll tell him, "if you take this kind of step or false step, it's easy for me to get around you." So we help each other out, and we try to critique each other a lot.

Q: Do you go up against tight end Martellus Bennett a lot in practice because he and Michael don't like to go head-to-head in practice?

A: Yep, we face each other. One thing that's good is he's told me he has trouble going up against big strong defensive ends and one of my biggest problems is playing head up on the tight end, so we actually get a lot of work out of each other.

- Richard Croome