The Chicago Bears rookie class is quite the mixture of interesting personalities. Easily the one that garnered the biggest doubletake from fans was fourth round pick Joel Iyiegbuniwe. Aside from his challenging-to-pronounce last name, he was someone many people didn’t know about. All they discovered was he had a strong career at Western Kentucky and aimed to get into medicine whenever his football life ended.
Over time they’ve learned he’s quite the athlete with surprising speed for his size. Now the Bears have released their “Meet The Rookies” series on the web. Iyiegbuniwe is their next case study and he is quite a story. Among the most interesting notes regarded how his college career began.
The plans going in were for him to play a hybrid version of defensive end and outside linebacker. However, another player transferred out. This left a gap at inside linebacker that needed filling. Iyiegbuniwe was their choice. A few years later the Bears picked him in the fourth round. Seemed to work out.
Among his positive traits, Joel Iyiegbuniwe comes with a tremendous nickname
Western Kentucky coach Terry Obee was interviewed to discuss what made “Iggy” such a good player. Being a coach, the first thing he zeroed in on was the young man’s work ethic and energy level. It was then that he revealed what the coaches often called him in school, and it’s gold.
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“Iggy, as a person, you’re talking about work really hard. We named him, kind of named him ‘Skeletor’ because he’s just body. He’s got muscles everywhere. And he gives a lot of effort, especially playing linebacker because he makes a lot of plays. Very instinctive. I just think he has huge upside.”
Any fan of 1980s pop culture can’t possibly forget the “He-Man and The Masters of the Universe” cartoon series. Skeletor was the main villain, and easily one of the most entertaining of that era. He was also known for being shredded with muscles, fair competition to the great hero of the series himself.
That the coaches saw visions of him when watching Iyiegbuniwe play and workout? It’s hard not to feel a jolt of happy energy thinking about it. Here’s hoping that the young linebacker ends up thriving in Chicago. It would give announcers an excuse to use that nickname on Sundays. Who wouldn’t want to hear the phrase by Jeff Joniak, “Aaron Rodgers brought down for the sack by Skeletor.”
