OCTOBER 2019
THE WOLVERINE 33
That's the goal, for someone whose
skills have always centered on making
life miserable for signal-callers.
His coach at Miami's Columbus
High School, Chris Merritt, noted a
while back that it's always been that
way.
"His football IQ just wasn't there
yet," Merritt noted of Uche's prep
days. "To him, everything was pass
rush. He didn't realize on first down,
you have to take on a drive block."
But, Merritt cautioned: "When it
comes to pressuring the quarterback,
the sky is the limit for him. The next
progression for him is to become an
every-down guy, not just a third-down
pass rush guy. That's his goal."
As far as Campanile is concerned,
goal accomplished.
"I think he's there, in terms of a
guy who can play every down for
us," Campanile said. "We don't have
any issue playing him every down of
the game. He's a great pass rusher, as
people know. But he's really stepped
his game up, in my opinion, as a line-
Through two games, Uche has 10 tackles, one sack and a
forced fumble. According to Pro Football Focus, he also has
a team-best eight quarterback pressures (one sack, four hits
and three hurries), three more than anybody else on the squad.
PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL
