A late start is better than no start at all.
It took some time for senior defensive end Temilade Dada to find his happy place on the football field for West Aurora, but since he has, the team’s coaching staff couldn’t be any happier.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Dada didn’t begin playing the sport until ninth grade after arriving in the United States from his native Nigeria for seventh grade. He’s now a fixture for the Blackhawks.
“One thing about ‘Temi,’” West Aurora coach Nate Eimer said. “He was a freshman B team cornerback, sophomore B cornerback, JV cornerback. We finally convinced him to try D-line.
“And he’s just kind of taken off.”
That came this past summer when Dada began working with veteran Mike Runge, the varsity defensive line coach, after defensive coordinator Pat Stremel got the ball rolling.
Stremel raised the question of changing positions during several late spring talks with Dada.
“It’s crazy,” Eimer said. “It’s nuts — a really cool story.”
Dada, who said the translation of his first name means “the crown is mine,” grew up speaking English. It still took time getting acclimated after arriving here with his parents. An older sister attends Northern Illinois and a younger brother is in eighth grade.
“I had a really strong accent and it was a big change, I guess, but I got used to it pretty quickly,” Dada said. “It was tougher for my parents.”
His first memory of an introduction to football?
“It was watching a package of YouTube highlights of Odell Beckham Jr. making crazy catches,” Dada said of the NFL receiver. “Then I wanted to be a receiver. That was my first thought.”
The move to defensive back?
“I couldn’t catch, so instant DB,” Dada said with a sheepish smile. “I was about 5-10 but steadily kept growing.”
How did Stremel convince him to switch positions?
“It’s always been team first,” Dada said. “The team needed D-linemen and I just wanted to play.”
Stremel said it was obvious Dada needed to be on the field.
“He couldn’t break through in the secondary but helped on special teams last year,” Stremel said. “He was too big and physical not to find a spot for him.”
It has worked out well for West Aurora (8-0, 5-0).
Entering the final week of the regular season, a 7 p.m. Friday home game in the Upstate Eight West against Streamwood (3-5, 2-3), Dada has become not only a contributor but a force on the Blackhawks’ defensive line.
Dada and 6-3, 170-pound senior Remond “RJ” Brown play opposite ends with seniors Jesse Estrella and Dionte Shaw in the middle at tackle and nose guard, respectively.
“RJ and Temi on the edges have been outstanding,” Eimer said. “Add Dionte and Jesse inside, and it’s a complete team.”
“I call Temi and RJ the towers,” Runge said. “We’ve worked on fundamentals from the start with Temi and you could just see him grow. It’s too bad he’s a senior.
“To see him grown week to week has been pretty neat.”
Dada leads the quartet with 28 tackles and six sacks. Estrella has 25 tackles, followed by Brown with 19 and Shaw with 15, despite taking on a lot of double teams.
“Over the summer, it began to feel natural,” Dada said of playing on the line. “I love being in the box compared to cornerback and not really being in the run game.
“Being in the box gets you a lot of action over the course of the game. I’d say my strength is getting off the ball. I get off the ball pretty fast and that helps a lot. Speed. Speed kills.”
He hopes it can carry him to the next level. He wants to play in college.
“Temi was really open when he moved here,” Estrella said. “He instantly clicked with almost everyone on the team and talked a lot. He does have moments where he tries to lock in and doesn’t talk. We leave him in his own little bubble then. He does make us better.”
