Gabby Hajduk

Bears defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett worked at Vanderbilt as a defensive quality control coach for just one season in 2019 before breaking into the NFL coaching ranks the following year. But in that short time, Garrett met one of his favorite players he's ever coached: Dayo Odeyingbo.

A junior for the Commodores in 2019, Odeyingbo made a lasting impression on Garrett, who still refers to the new Bears defensive end as "one of the best practice players I've ever been around."

Then-head coach Derek Mason would routinely tell Garrett, who assisted with the defensive line, to "calm [Odeyingbo] down" during practices. In Garrett's eyes, Odeyingbo treated every day like an actual game. He'd chase the ball 30 or 40 yards down the field in practice.

"It's just him," Garrett told ChicagoBears.com. "It's in him. He was one of my favorite players that I ever coached, just with the effort and how he played.

"Everywhere I've coached, I talk to my guys about him."

Six years later, Odeyingbo's intensity and passion for football haven't wavered. That was apparent to Garrett when the pair reunited at Halas Hall March 13 after Odeyingbo signed a three-year contract with the Bears.

From Day 1, Garrett saw what type of player Odeyingo could be. With his athletic prowess, ability to stop the run and versatility as a pass rusher, he was a certified draft prospect. But there was a deeper level of passion Odeyingo exhibited that was special to Garrett.

"He's always been this focused player, like it was bigger than just him. Like he was playing for family," Garrett said. "He's playing for legacy. I truly think that's why he chose Chicago. It's about legacy. It's about the work, all the Hall of Famers, what this team could be. I think he saw that in himself being a part of bringing it back here and challenging himself to build that that legacy for himself as well as his family."

For Odeyingbo, football is bigger than him.

As the son of parents Gary and Betty who immigrated from Nigeria to England to the United States before he was born and the younger brother of former Vanderbilt defensive end Dare, Dayo's will to succeed stems directly from his family. They're his biggest inspirations and supporters, and they're thrilled about where he's ended up for the next step in his professional career.

"They were fired up," Dayo said. "They're going to be happy wherever I went, but to be in a city like Chicago, I know they're excited."

The support and guidance from Odeyingbo's parents and older brother mean everything it's what shaped his path to the NFL.

When Dayo was about four years old living in Kentucky, he saw the football for the first time while watching Dare play. Dayo remembers thinking it "looked like fun" but because he was so young, he wasn't allowed to play just yet. Not long after, they moved to Texas and Dayo followed in Dare's footsteps.

As the brothers grew older, their talents on the field became more and more apparent. Even after Betty switched Dare from a public school to private school, football remained at the center of his interests to where he became, as Dayo puts it, "the prodigy football player," adding: "that's kind of how we ended up here."

"My mom is happy now," he said. "It's definitely been a blessing. She always tells that story how she didn't she didn't want us play football, but it worked out in the end."

Both brothers went on to play college football at Vanderbilt, with Dare always being an integral influence on Dayo's love for football. As the younger brother, Dayo always viewed Dare as "somebody to aspire after and try to chase what he was creating."

As the brothers' success on the field became undeniable, Betty's support grew.

"Even in college, my parents would come to every game home and away," Dayo said. "My dad would watch, but my mom would stand behind the stands because she couldn't watch it. She's just an extreme worrier sometimes, but she's always there to support and do what she can to support."

Odeyingbo's journey was unpredictable, but he also views that path as just the beginning. He's eager to play for the NFL's charter franchise, reunite with "JG" (Garrett) and "do something special in a special city."

As he's gotten older, Odeyingbo has a greater understanding of his parents' journey to help him get to this point, which has him playing for a purpose bigger than himself.

"I think it always motivated me to try to make it worth something," he said. "It was a big deal for them to leave everything they knew, leave their families, their friends and move all the way across the world to somewhere that they didn't have any roots.

"It's always been important to me to make sure that it wasn't for nothing. I know they didn't think it would pan out to us playing football, but it did end up being something I could only do here, so I know they're happy that they did it. That's always inspiration for me."