After spending his first three collegiate football seasons terrorizing quarterbacks in the SEC while at Oklahoma, Sammy Omosigho is quickly making his presence felt in Westwood.
The UCLA senior linebacker was named Tuesday as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the week following his performance during a 52-38 win against Purdue on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.
"Omosigho totaled a team-high 12 tackles for the Bruins, helping limit the visiting Boilermakers to just 63 net rushing yards. Of his dozen stops, 11 were solo tackles. In addition, Omosigho forced two fumbles and recorded a pair of sacks," UCLA Athletics stated in a news release. "It marked the third straight game that Omosigho had forced a fumble, giving him four overall on the season.
He is the first Bruin since at least 2000 to force a fumble in three straight games, and he’s believed to be the first player in program history to accomplish the feat. In addition, his four forced fumbles this year are already the most by a Bruin in a single season since Mitchell Agude in 2021.
"The 12-tackle outing marked the second time in his career that Omosigho finished in double digits. It was the second-highest total of his career, trailing only his 14 tackles in UCLA’s season opener at California on Sept. 5. It also marked the first-career multi-sack game for the Crandall, Texas native... This is the second time this season that Omosigho has received a weekly award for his play, as he was named the Bednarik Award National Player of the Week (top defensive player in the country) after the Bruins’ win at Cal.
"Omosigho is the second Bruin to earn Big Ten defensive honors in just a three-week span, as safety Ta’Shawn James was tabbed the league’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week following his two-interception performance against the Golden Bears in the season opener... Overall, Omosigho is having one of the strongest statistical starts to the season of any player across the nation. He leads the FBS in forced fumbles, is second in solo tackles (21), third in tackles for loss (6.5), fourth in total tackles (33), and is ninth nationally and tied for first in the Big Ten with 3.0 sacks."
The Bruins will be traveling across the country this weekend for their first Big Ten road game of the season, at 10:30 a.m. Saturday against Maryland.
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The Big Ten leader in total tackles, sacks, tackles for loss, and forced fumbles, is the @bigten Defensive Player of the Week.
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) September 21, 2026
10/10 night, @SamuelOmosigho 💪 pic.twitter.com/KqnJmNuDGt
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA senior Sammy Omosigho named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
