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Meet YouTube's Favorite MLS Star - Ep. 94
555 Plays7 hours ago
Noah talks with Femi Awodesu, a Houston Dynamo defender and former Penn State Big Ten Defender of the Year who went undrafted and now into the starting lineup. Femi talks about life, Nico Lodiero, and making YouTube content on his off time.
Follow Femi: https://www.youtube.com/@femiawodesu
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers. Today, we are joined by a very special guest, a man with many talents and jobs, Femi Odesu.
00:00:33
Speaker
You're an owner. You own a brand. You are a defender with the Houston Dynamo. And also, this is what I've dubbed you as, so you you can feel free to correct me, but the internet's favorite defender.
00:00:47
Speaker
that ah does that seem Does that seem right? I appreciate it. Yeah, i can't. I love that. Thank you.
Femi Odesu's Soccer Journey
00:00:54
Speaker
yeah Well, Femi, why don't you give us a little bit of an introduction about yourself?
00:01:00
Speaker
Obviously, you play for the Houston Dynamo, but other than that, how are you enjoying MLS? Yeah, ah I mean, been ah it's been a long journey.
00:01:11
Speaker
I'm just you know super grateful to be in the situation I'm ah The situation I am in right now, it took a lot of hard work, but I'm just learning every day and making the most of it. But, yeah, I mean, like you said, my name is Femi. I went to Penn State, you know, in Houston now. Grew up in Philadelphia, bounced around teams in the Philadelphia area. ah And, yeah, yeah.
00:01:37
Speaker
It's a very vague experience. yeah Yeah, so more, i'm I'm interested to know the path, right? ah So people can literally go and watch your path online right now on YouTube.
00:01:51
Speaker
You put out a really cool series document ah sorry documenting all of that. And I want to hear too from you what some of your favorite parts of that journey were and some of the harder parts.
00:02:05
Speaker
ah Yeah, let's start with the favorite parts. I think the... the The most fun was just being in college and making those match day videos and like like playing in a match and and doing that. That just felt like a blur. It went so fast because of how fun it was. Like my senior season of college was really like, it was just a a really
Challenges and Growth in MLS
00:02:27
Speaker
fun time. And a I mean, and now, you know, being able to play in the MLS, you know, it's a, it's,
00:02:34
Speaker
I'm still trying to enjoy as much as possible, even though there's a lot more pressure and a lot more on the line, but, uh, some of the hardest parts, uh, getting cut as a young kid from the Philadelphia union Academy, that was a, you know, that was tough, but that really prepared me for when I had, uh, went undrafted.
00:02:54
Speaker
And now I kind of knew the mentality I had to have to, to keep going. And, uh, that season in MLS Next Pro with Dynamo 2 was very hard, not just like, you know, playing wise, more on the mental side, more on the, you know, coming from a college of the season when there's a lot less games and stuff. So, but I learned a lot and just not being where you want to be, playing a whole season, you know, knowing that you just really want to be on the first team, you really want to grind and make it to the first team. So.
00:03:25
Speaker
That was definitely a hard season. And, you know, there's a lot of ups and downs in between here and there, but, you know, grateful for it so far, for sure. Yeah, no, that's amazing.
The Role of College Soccer
00:03:35
Speaker
I'm interested to know, too, you know, there is kind of a a like,
00:03:42
Speaker
a thought now that maybe the super draft isn't super important or that you can't get players from college in America. But i don't know. I want to hear your thoughts on on working through those levels and how there is still talent out there.
00:03:56
Speaker
There definitely is. I think college, at least for me, definitely. ah made me into a man and made me mature and it helped me make that transition because, you know, i understood that, you know, professional soccer is a business and that, uh, you know, i have to be mentally prepared for that.
00:04:14
Speaker
You know, I have to be mentally prepared for things like getting undrafted. Uh, I think. You see a lot of kids ah go straight pro and these are kind of things that they don't quite understand.
00:04:27
Speaker
And although they might probably do benefit a lot more early on tactically and technically, think it's just as important to have that mature side. And, you know, there's players who come through MLS academies and they make it straight to the first team and to Europe.
00:04:46
Speaker
They always had that that mental toughness, but ah that's something that I definitely gained in college. And I think a lot of young, talented ah ah players also benefit from one the ones who go to college.
Playing in Seattle and Defensive Culture
00:04:59
Speaker
Yeah, no. I want to hit this question quickly because this is a Seattle Sounders podcast, mainly. ah You got to play here in Seattle. What was that atmosphere like? I mean, it's one of the bigger stadiums. It's one of the the bigger cities for soccer around here.
00:05:15
Speaker
How did that feel? It was sick. It was really cool. You know, yeah. Yeah, that's the best way to describe it. Walking in, there's ah warmups, is already a a good amount of fans in the stadium, huge stadium. You guys got a lot of synchronous chants and claps going on. So was it was really cool for sure. And ah yeah, I'm sure and in playoffs I can get even even more rowdy and more, ah you know, what's the word? It's a good, it's a great environment. Really,
00:05:47
Speaker
enjoyed it and tried to embrace it as much as possible. It's probably, you know, I've been to Columbus so far, Seattle and Portland, and, you know, those are all three great atmospheres. So, yeah.
00:05:59
Speaker
Sweet. Yeah. Just a couple more questions here. We're going to do it quick because I know you've got a lot to do here. um Defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. that's and That's incredible.
00:06:11
Speaker
ah I just want to know because you played with a lot of really talented teammates, including Andrew Privet, who basically sidelined Tim Rehm.
00:06:22
Speaker
I mean, the dude is so good that he sidelined Tim Rehm. That's amazing. Like, yeah Is Penn State just the best defensive ah club of all time? That's the question, I guess.
00:06:33
Speaker
how yeah I really do think it's that mentality that ah the the staff brings in, the Penn State staff, because Priv was, he was, like, my sophomore year, he was a junior, and he was playing left mid, and he had, like, one of the most goals in the Big Ten, you know? And, like,
00:06:52
Speaker
I just feel like a lot of ahpen State players are just going to make it happen, whether whatever position, whatever situation, drafted, undrafted, drafted late. I think you know the mentality that the staff at Penn State ah has really helps ah players succeed at the next level. But yeah, no, Prius is a great player. He gave me a lot of motivation that I can make it because you know he was the year before me.
00:07:16
Speaker
He was drafted pretty late and you know he made it happen and he's he's confident. Now he's playing, he's playing really well. So that was ah really nice to see and it definitely helped me in my journey.
YouTube Channel and Sharing Experiences
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, I've loved watching you break down film on your YouTube. Like your last video you did was was great. It was cool to see like the way that I mean, I'm just a dumbass with the microphone. That's what I say. But, you know, we watched the game. and We're like, oh, you know, you should have done this better. But to actually watch a player go through and be like, OK, this is exactly what I was thinking.
00:07:50
Speaker
And this is what I need to work on. And all of this, you know, the lingo that I'm learning from you has been incredible. What do you really want to do with you know your channel and teaching teaching people about like the real ins and outs of being a professional?
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean. So it kind of started just as a kid, because I always tried to Google this type of stuff. And I always, you know, wanted someone who's giving me like the real ins and outs of a professional footballer. Because like, obviously, we see the, you know, Cristiano Ronaldo's and the, you know, just all the top players we see, you know, they're, they get posted a lot and stuff like that. But you know as a kid, I really wanted to see what it was like to to really, you know the the average player, not that I'm aiming to be an average player, but you know just the reality of ah professional soccer. and ah yeah just you know
00:08:46
Speaker
As I learn, I just want to take people along on that journey because you know at this level, Houston Dynamo has helped me learn so much. I'm learning every single day. I feel like I just want to share that, to be honest. Hopefully,
00:09:01
Speaker
I'm not sharing too much and people are catching up, but, you know, it's just, ah it's cool. It's something that I wanted as a kid and it's nice to be able to provide that. And, you know, I enjoy interacting with the, with MLS fans, with Houston Dynamo fans and, you know, just soccer fans in general.
00:09:18
Speaker
It's cool. Even situations like this, talking to you is a, it's a, it's a cool moment. It's cool experience. It just really helps build the ah culture here, I think for sure. Yeah, no, we I love watching it and and we'll make sure to put links in our in our show here to to to share with everyone, because it's a super interesting watch.
Advice and Closing Remarks
00:09:39
Speaker
um And my final question here, I guess I'll close it out here with ah Seattle Sounders legend Nico Ladero playing with you. I don't know if you guys interact much. I don't know what you can share because that's all I get it, how it goes. But
00:09:53
Speaker
uh if you want to give us a little nico insight about what if he's if he's talked with you giving you any advice anything like that he's given me tons of advice uh tons you know first first uh couple of days he came in you know he didn't even obviously know me as a person yet but he's already helped me out he's uh giving me tips on you know uh international teammate suarez how to you know defend him and we I mean, didn't go as planned, but, you know, he's just always giving me tips and, you know, help me out. ah
00:10:25
Speaker
And, you know, it makes me ah feel comfortable, you know, when the way I look at it is like when someone stops, like trying to help you and trying to give you tips, that's when they've given up. So I just try to embrace all the tips that the veterans are giving me, especially Nico and is obviously a great player. And it was definitely cool to see him get that recognition in the and, uh, Seattle.
00:10:49
Speaker
It's definitely cool. Yeah. So we'll close it out here with anything you want to, you want to promote, whether it's the dynamo or, or your channel or whatever it is. Cause we really appreciate you, uh, giving us the time.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. Uh, no, it's just anyone, any, uh, young footballers or fans in general, just, uh, want to see the ins and outs of, uh,
00:11:14
Speaker
of a professional football in the MLS trying to make it as far as possible, you know, check me out. ah Make sure you keep tuning into this podcast and I appreciate you having me. Appreciate it for me. Thank you so much, man.
00:11:26
Speaker
Thanks Noah. Have a good one.