Football
- Title:
- Defensive Line
Vince Oghobaase (oh-guh-BAH-see) became UCLA’s defensive line coach in January of 2018. He joined the Bruin staff after working the previous two seasons in the NFL as the San Francisco 49ers’ assistant defensive line coach. He played collegiately at Duke University and finished his career ranked among the top 10 at the school in both sacks and tackles for loss.
In year two at UCLA, the Bruin defensive front helped cut almost 0.5 yards per carry off of the opponent rushing average per carry from the previous season and held four teams under 100 yards of rushing in a game. The defense upped its quarterback sack total from 11 to 26 over a year's time. Osa Odighizuwa led Bruin linemen with 46 tackles and added a team-high tying 10.0 tackles for loss.
In 2018, Oghobaase tutored a young group of linemen, including five freshmen and sophomores in major roles, which helped to produce improved numbers in average gain per rush allowed (down over a yard per carry), total offense yards allowed per game (down by almost 40 yards per game), turnovers forced (+5) and points per game allowed.
Prior to his time in the NFL, Oghobaase served as a defensive graduate assistant at The Ohio State University for three years (2013-15). Working primarily with the defensive linemen, he helped coach a Buckeye defense that ranked among the top-10 in the nation in sacks during each of the three seasons [2015 – tied for ninth (38.0); 2014 – tied for seventh (45.0); 2013 – third (44.0)]. During his tenure at Ohio State, he tutored defensive end Joey Bosa, now in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers, who registered 26.0 career sacks, the third most in school history. In 2014, Bosa recorded 13.5 sacks, which ranked fifth in the nation and as the second highest single-season total in school history.
Oghobaase began his coaching career as a defensive graduate assistant at Duke in 2011, and helped the Blue Devils earn the program’s first bowl game appearance since 1994.
Oghobaase was a four-year starter as a player at Duke from 2006-09, seeing action in 44 games. He registered 165 tackles during his career, and finished his career ranked sixth in school history in both sacks (14.0) and tackles for loss (36.5). During his college career, Oghobaase earned Freshman All-American honors in 2006 and was twice named honorable mention All-ACC (2008-09). He received third-team All-America honors from The Sporting News in 2009.
A native of Houston, Texas, Oghobaase graduated from Duke in 2010 with a degree in sociology and signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins after attending the NFL Scouting Combine. He later played with the Hartford Colonials in the United Football League and spent time on the Washington Redskins’ practice squad in 2010.
