Sugar Bowl to feature showdown of 1st round talents in Tunsil, Ogbah

NEW ORLEANS -- Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil came off his NCAA suspension and stepped into the fryer with a great challenge against Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett.

He'll end his college career with an equally difficult assignment in Oklahoma State end Emmanuel Ogbah.

Tunsil has not publicly declared for the NFL draft, but it's widely expected that he will.

Ogbah will likely declare early as well. A fourth-year junior from Houston by way of Nigeria, Ogbah is the NCAA's active sack leader with 28. He has 13 this year ranking third in the country and first in the Big 12 Conference.

Unlike Garrett, Ogbah will switch sides of the field more often, so Fahn Cooper, the Rebels' right tackle, will face him as well.

"He has a nice push-pull move, and he plays aggressive," Cooper said. "He's a physical player who will try to bull rush guys and push the back. He's 6-6, 270 and has some intangibles that a lot of guys don't have."

Ogbah began playing football in the seventh grade.

He wasn't as highly recruited as fellow Nigerian defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, the Ole Miss All-American who is suspended for the Sugar Bowl.

Ogbah's improvement has been a steady climb of development in Stillwater.

"Our strength staff got a hold of him, he started eating and lifting. He was hungry to be better. Every year you saw a gradual increase," Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer said.

Ogbah has had multiple sack games six times in his career. He's had at least one sack in 16 of the last 20 games and has been involved in a sack every game this season.

Garrett was active against Ole Miss, but most of his seven tackles came along the line of scrimmage. He had two tackles for loss, but Tunsil, having had no game action in 2015, held the SEC sack leader without a sack.

"He's a very athletic guy for his size. He moves around a lot, and he stays real low," Ogbah said.

Ogbah compared Tunsil to 6-6, 308-pound offensive tackle Le'Raven Clark of Texas Tech.

"They're both athletic for their size," he said. "I just have to do whatever it takes to get around him."

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Sugar Bowl to feature showdown of 1st round talents in Tunsil, Ogbah ."