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Olaniyan plays entire game of defense in 34-17 loss at #19 Northwood.

FINDLAY- Corey Olaniyan had been pulled every which way in his first two months at the University of Findlay, but the true freshman may have been pulled in a direction he can live with after this past Saturday. After seeing action on special teams, and working in occasionally at defensive back, Olaniyan was moved to strong side safety this week, and after the starter struggled after a handful of plays, head coach Dan Simrell turned to the freshman to make an impact.

"After the first three plays, they threw me in there," Olaniyan said. "I was at Safety for a day during camp, and then this week they moved me back there. I was told beforehand that I could see some heavy time there, so I was ready for it."

Ready he was. Despite the defense giving up 24 points in the fourth quarter in a 34-17 road loss, Olaniyan did respond to the coaches, as he registered seven solo tackles for the game.

"Well one of them was for a loss of six yards on a third down play," he said. "The whole reason I played is because our regular safeties missed too many tackles, so my whole focus was just to bring the man down if he came my way, they weren't too big so it wasn't that bad."

Olaniyan then touched on what happened to the Findlay defense in the fourth quarter, as they were tied 10-10 going into the fourth quarter before the defense yielded 17 points.

"I think we were just tired from the option play and gave up big plays," he said. "They got a couple of tricks plays on us, but we knew going in it was a big challenge, they were very good."

Olaniyan also says he still uses some of what he learned in his days as a player at Norwalk High School the past four years.

"Coach Horowitz taught me to just to be a coachable player," he said. "And also to have discipline on the field when you are given an assignment."

And after a tough few weeks of the hard knocks life of being a freshman, he also feels as though he's settling in to his role on this season's team and is well on his way to lettering.

"I was just frustrated at first because of all the moves made," he said. "So I didn't adjust well, but everyday I would hear a coach say to me "Just prepare and your chance will come" so I was watching what went on around me. Finally, I just said if they are doing the job I'll show coach that I can and that's what motivated me to work harder."