Goal No. 8: ENTHUSIASM.
#8 Chiddi Obiazor
Redshirt Sophomore | 6-6 | 275 lbs. | Eden Prairie, Minnesota
- Position: Defensive End
- Previous College: None
- Projection: Co-Starter
- Status: On Scholarship
Chiddi Obiazor (b. Aug. 21, 2004) is a talented young defensive end with agility, speed and toughness out of Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He enters 2025 looking to become one of the Big 12’s best.
Obiazor was K-State’s first signee from Minnesota since linebacker Brandon Archer (St. Paul) in 2002. As a true freshman, he saw time in three games as he retained his redshirt in 2023.
He had a tackle in the season opener against SEMO when he saw time on nine
defensive snaps and half a tackle for loss in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against NC State, when he was in for 15 snaps, and also played against Baylor, seeing time on a season-high 29 defensive plays.
Last season, Obiazor played in all 13 games — including his first career start at Houston — as he tallied 16 tackles, five tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and three pass breakups over 310 defensive snaps. He earned votes from the league’s coaches for the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year award and was an Academic All-Big 12 performer.
Obiazor recorded sacks in each of the final three games of the season, including the Iowa State contest when he set a career high with three tackles. He also had two tackles apiece against BYU, Oklahoma State, Arizona State and Cincinnati, as well as half a sack against West Virginia.
Obiazor broke up passes against West Virginia, Arizona State and in the Rate Bowl against Rutgers. He saw time on a career-best 36 defensive snaps against West Virginia, while he played on 32 snaps against Iowa State and 31 against both Cincinnati and Rutgers.
Obiazor, who is majoring in communications, prepped under head coach Mike Grant at Eden Prairie, where he was viewed as the 79th-best edge defender in the Class of 2023 by On3, which also ranked him as the sixth-best overall prospect in the state of Minnesota.
He also picked up all-state honors in 2022 from SBLive after tallying 40 tackles, forcing three fumbles and blocking three kicks for the Eagles. A 2022 first-team all-metro performer by The Star Tribune and first-team all-district honoree, Obiazor also competed in basketball in high school.
After posting some promising high school film, he selected K-State over offers from Akron, Incarnate Word, Ohio and Tulane, as well as strong interest from home-state school Minnesota. His primary recruiter was his new position coach, Buddy Wyatt, who said:
The defensive end class a year ago (Obiazor, Jordan Allen and Ryan Davis) has a chance to be really special. We have some really good players who are big, fast and humble guys. It’s exciting to see those guys get better. Chiddi stood out a year ago because he got here in the spring. The other two guys didn’t get here until the summer. Now they’ve all had the opportunity to learn the scheme, how we practice and our expectations.
Obiazor enrolled early in time for 2023 spring practices, which seemed to benefit him immensely, at least according to Van Malone (“I’ve been impressed with Chiddi Obiazor, a guy who was here early and who’s done a good job this spring”) and Joe Klanderman (“Just a side note on all these early enrollee kids — those two guys mentioned, Austin Romaine at linebacker and Chiddi Obiazor at defensive end, I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of those guys playing for us in the fall”). That said, I was correct that he still would redshirt in 2023.
Entering 2025, Avery Johnson’s roommate is a surefire lock to be a heavy part of the 4-/5-/6-/7-/8-man rotation at defensive end, and with his additional 32 pounds of muscle over 2023 (he’s become a real workout warrior!), he proved able to play in the interior of the defensive line and should continue being productive in that role.
Obiazor’s older brother, Namdi, is an All-Big 12 linebacker at TCU who will visit Manhattan in October for a huge game, and their sister, Nneka, played women’s basketball at UNLV before transferring to Grand Canyon last year.
Here is what Coach Malone had to say last year about this budding pass-rushing talent:
Chiddi is a young man who has a lot of ability and a lot of talent. He’s steadily improving. Still has a long way to go as far as just being a master of his technique, but I’m pleased with his progress so far. Chiddi wants to be really successful, so he works extremely hard at all the little things, taking care of his body and recovery, and he works hard in the weight room. He’s very conscientious of his body and he works hard to take care of it.
You’re going to see Chiddi on the field a lot this year. You’re going to see a lot of our guys. A lot of our guys will get an opportunity to get some playing time this season.
