Written by Joan Niesen at Campus Rush.com
Growing up in Brookfield, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee, Chikwe Obasih lived a few minutes drive from Joe Thomas, the Browns’ All-Pro offensive tackle, who was a stalwart on Wisconsin’s offensive line from 2003 through ’06. Thomas’s mother, Sally, was Obasih’s school nurse at Hillside Elementary, and he eventually went to Brookfield Central, a high school known for churning out Badgers players. By his junior year Obasih, a defensive end, was the No. 1 recruit in the state in his class, and he looked like a lock to head to Madison.
But Obasih resisted. He didn’t want to feel forced into the Wisconsin pipeline, so he considered Stanford, Vanderbilt and Illinois. Eventually, though, he signed with the Badgers. It just made too much sense—although logic has played almost no role in his football career since.
Now a junior on a unit that has not finished worse than No. 7 in total defense during his time in Madison, Obasih may not be the Badgers’ best-known player, but he’s the heart of their squad, embodying the ethos of the D: Embrace the weird.
Obasih is an outsized character, and one of the ways he expresses that is by assigning his teammates … characters. Junior outside linebacker T.J. Watt, Obasih says, is Arnold Schwarzenegger in a comedic role. “He’s the type who’s going to start playing Christmas music in October and come screaming down the hallway singing joyfully,” he adds. “Action Schwarzenegger” is a designation reserved for Watt’s injured position mate, mullet-wearing senior Vince Biegel. Junior inside linebacker Jack Cichy is a “little rabid bunny who has claws, and he tries to be really badass, but he’s just adorable.” Fellow inside linebacker T.J. Edwards is Uncle Tito from the early 2000s Nickelodeon show Rocket Power, Obasih says, comparing the ’15 freshman All-America to a storytelling Hawaiian fry cook. And so he works his way through the entire starting defense, dropping references to everything from Batman & Robin to The Pink Panther.
Obasih doesn’t comment on his own role, but he fancies himself the director of this slapstick comedy turned on-field horror film. Really, though, it’s new coordinator Justin Wilcox who’s orchestrating—and in many ways fostering—the madness. Going into Saturday’s game against No. 2 Ohio State in Madison, this crazy and cohesive group will be the key to the eighth-ranked Badgers’ attack on the Big Ten’s most versatile and talented team.
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