Linebacker E.B. Odeh Thrives on Competition

Palisades High varsity captain E.B. Odeh talks about the first few days of practice in pads.

Full pad practice has begun for the Palisades High varsity football team and no one is more thrilled to finally be able to hit and tackle than senior outside linebacker E.B. Odeh.

“The first few days in pads have been nice… the defense has to show up and beat up the offense and the offense has to come back the next day,” Odeh said. “It’s been a constant build-up, it’s competition and that’s what we’re going to see in the games. We just want to be the best and it’s all about competition. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Odeh’s motor runs in high gear at all times and he is just as intense in practice as he is during games. For him, practice is all about competing and, as a defensive player, Odeh takes pride in shutting his own offense down, especially in red zone situations.

Pali High head coach Tim Hyde had high praise for Odeh, one of the Dolphins’ captains along with fellow seniors Duane McBroom, Brad Boorstin and Herbert Acosta.

“In my humble opinion, E.B. is the heart and soul of our team,” Hyde said. “He’s the energizer bunny — he just keeps going. We always talk about energy and heart and E.B. epitomizes that. He’s relentless. He never, never stops.”

Wreaking havoc in the backfield and pressuring the quarterback were Odeh’s trademarks at defensive end last season when he led his unit with 6.5 sacks, blocked a field goal, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and made 33 tackles (13 solo, 20 assisted) to earn second team All-Western League honors. Odeh is a vocal leader and takes his role as captain to heart.

“Me, Duane, Herbert and Brad have been pushing everybody, like Duane will say ‘Let’s go, let’s go, make the pick!,'” Odeh said. “We also have unspoken leaders people don’t know about like sophomore Quinn Perry and guys stepping up like [center] Alex Clarke, who is yelling at everybody to pick up a block because he wants to beat the defense so bad. We have guys who want to play. It doesn’t matter who’s starting, it’s just about the 11 playing.”

— Steve Galluzzo