Safety, UConn, 2012–16
Obi Melifonwu
- Number
- No. 20
- Height
- 6′3″
- Hometown
- South Grafton, MA
- Born
- Apr 5, 1994, in London
Wikipedia readers: about 891 a month over the past year
Obi Melifonwu played safety at UConn (2012–16). The Oakland Raiders took Melifonwu in round 2, No. 56 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Career highs
24tackles, career highvs. Tulane, 20162interceptions, career highvs. Temple, 2016Defense
Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls. A dash: the source has no number for that season (often an FCS season), and career totals count only the numbers on file.
Defense before 2016
| Season | G | Solo | Ast | Tkl | TFL | Int | PBU | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013N | 12 | 39 | 31 | 70 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 2014E | 6 of 12 | 24 | 11 | 35 | – | – | – | – |
| 2015E | 7 of 13 | 29 | 20 | 49 | – | – | – | – |
Our box scores carry tackles, tackles for loss and sacks from 2016 only, so these come from other sources, marked by season: N, NCAA statistics, via octonion/football, the season’s official lines (G: games played); E, ESPN play-by-play participants, via SportsDataverse: tackles only, counted in the games whose play-by-play names tacklers (G: those games, of his team’s), so part of the season, not its total. A dash: the source has no number for it.
On the roster
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Game by game
2016 UConn 12 games, 118 tackles, 4 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1 | vs. Maine | W 24–21 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 10 | at Navy | L 24–28 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 17 | vs. Virginia | W 13–10 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 24 | vs. Syracuse | L 24–31 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 29 | at Houston | L 14–42 | 11 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 8 | vs. Cincinnati | W 20–9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oct 15 | at South Florida | L 27–42 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oct 22 | vs. UCF | L 16–24 | 7 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 29 | at East Carolina | L 3–41 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nov 4 | vs. Temple | L 0–21 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Nov 19 | at Boston College | L 0–30 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 26 | vs. Tulane | L 13–38 | 24 | 11 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2015 UConn 2 games, 2 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 10 | atUCF | W 40–13 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – |
| Oct 30 | vs.East Carolina | W 31–13 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – |
2013 UConn 2 games, 2 INT
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Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
Played in the 2017 Senior Bowl (North team, lost 15–16).
| Drill | Combine 2017 | Combine or pro day 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 6′3⅞″ | |
| Weight | 224 lb | |
| Arm length | 32½″ | |
| Hand size | 9⅛″ | |
| Wingspan | 79¼″W | |
| 40-yard dash | 4.40 s | |
| 10-yard split | 1.50 s | |
| Vertical jump | 44″ | |
| Broad jump | 11′9″ | |
| Bench press | 17 reps | |
| 3-cone drill | 7.07 s | |
| 20-yard shuttle | 4.30 s |
Combine or pro day: the source doesn’t say which. Unmarked: Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data); W: Pre-draft measurables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Rosters and honors: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the NFL
2 seasons, 5 games with a stat; latest team: Philadelphia Eagles.
| Season | Team | G | Tkl | Sacks | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Oakland Raiders | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | New England Patriots | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL career | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0), matched to him by his draft pick and college (Player ids: DynastyProcess (GPL-3.0)). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat.
Other pro football
| Years | League | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | USFL | Tampa Bay Bandits |
| 2023 | XFL | St. Louis Battlehawks * |
| 2025 | UFL | Memphis Showboats |
Leagues other than the NFL, from the infobox of his Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA), as it names the teams. * Off-season roster or practice squad only.
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