Moro Ojomo gave 'Inner Excellence' to A.J. Brown. The lesser-known Eagle has his own motivational story.

PHILADELPHIA — Maybe A.J. Brown never reads a book on the sidelines if Moro Ojomo didn’t answer his door 11 years ago.

Ojomo, now an Eagles defensive tackle, didn’t go out for the football team as a freshman at Katy High School near Houston. He learned the sport after emigrating from Nigeria when he was 8, struggled, and decided he had enough after middle school.

But after the 2014 season started, Katy coach Gary Joseph asked the junior-high coach if there were any kids he should know about who didn’t show up for the high-school squad. The coach told Joseph about a big lineman who was two years younger than the rest of his grade. Joseph needed to go see him.

“I went to his house and talked to him,” the coach said. “You’re intimidated when you’re that young and playing against older people. Most of those kids that were freshmen in high school were 14 or 15 and getting ready to get their driver’s license. He was 12.”

Ojomo decided to give football another chance. There was a spot for him on the team.

“Freshman team backup,” the 23-year-old Ojomo said. “Freshman ‘B’ team backup. The fourth guy in my position.”

Ojomo didn’t know much, but he knew how to work hard thanks to two parents who moved their family from Nigeria. He made Katy’s varsity squad as a junior, blossomed into a big-time recruit as a senior, played five seasons at the University of Texas, and joined the Eagles last season as a seventh-round pick.

And that’s how he was able to give Brown a copy of Inner Excellence, the motivational book that became a bestseller after Brown paged through it on the sidelines during the Birds’ postseason win over Green Bay.

Ojomo enjoyed the book, which is author Jim Murphy’s attempt to “Train your mind for extraordinary performance and the best possible life.” He figured Brown could use a copy after listening earlier this season to an interview the wide receiver had with reporters.

“I had the book for a while but I hadn’t actually read it,” Ojomo said. “I read it one day and had it on my heart that A.J. would like it. ... I think it was God. I had it on my heart to give it to him. I didn’t think it would result into what it has.”

Learning the game

Ojomo’s father, Ololade, is a missionary and the Ojomos came to California from Africa to open a church. They lived with family near Los Angeles and Ojomo’s cousins introduced him to football.

“They threw me in,” Ojomo said. “I went to tryouts and everyone was trying to be the quarterback. I tried to throw a football and they were like ‘Go over there.’ ”

A few years later, the Ojomos moved to Texas when his father became the pastor of a holiness Pentecostal church near Houston.

“It was unique,” Ojomo said of growing up in the church. “I think it shaped a lot of ways that I am with work ethic and attitude in life. I think faith allows you to not feel like the world’s weight is on your shoulders and allows you to move in freedom. I know that God has me regardless of whatever so it allows you to pursue anything to the best of your ability, even if you fall short you know there’s a better plan in hand.”

Ojomo was two years younger than the other kids because he started school in Nigeria when he was just three. He was young but he was big. Ojomo was a backup on Katy’s freshman “B” team but the coaches knew they had something.

“You never give up on big kids like that,” Joseph said. “He was raw but he was athletic.”

Ojomo worked tirelessly with the team’s coaches to turn himself into a recruiter’s dream as he learned the nuisances of the defensive line.

Big-time college coaches were soon knocking on his door just like Joseph did years earlier. The kid from Africa who didn’t know how to hold a football signed a scholarship with Texas to play on Saturdays in front of 100,000 fans.

“I don’t think we understood the reality of it,” Ojomo said. “It was really cool.”

Inner Excellence

Ojomo was inactive for more than half the games last season and earned less than $1 million this year. But he still felt empowered to recommend a book to Brown, one of the team’s stars and the league’s third highest-paid wide receiver.

“I don’t think anyone is too little or too big,” Ojomo said. “At the end of the day, we are a team and we need everyone. It’s cool to have that kind of dynamic.”

Brown left the Eagles’ locker room on Wednesday carrying a stack of books. Inner Excellence, which Brown called his “recipe,” is not the only one on his shelf. Ojomo has a backpack full of books he’s reading. It may have been different to see a player page through a book on the sidelines but it wasn’t surprising for Ojomo that a football player was reading.

“The things that sell are clickbait,” Ojomo said.

Ojomo received Inner Excellence from DJ Giaritelli, a chaplain with Athletes in Action, a sports ministry organization. He also has a financial literacy book that defensive line coach Clint Hurtt gave to the linemen and is reading a few books about the issues of poverty. Other players had copies of Inner Excellence in their lockers. The Eagles seem to believe in the power of reading.

“I encourage people to learn little things,” Ojomo said. “Everyone wants to put you in a box. This is what you should be doing. This is what you shouldn’t be doing. You can’t fit us in a box.”

A chapter in Philly

Ojomo expected to be drafted in April of 2023 but that belief flattened as the day went on and his name was not called.

“I thought it was over,” Ojomo said.

There were just 11 picks remaining when his phone rang. It was Howie Roseman and the Eagles were going to draft him. Roseman asked Ojomo if he wanted to come to Philly. There was silence.

“Oh gosh,” Ojomo finally said.

It was hard for Ojomo to find the words. He moved to America as an 8-year-old, stumbled upon football, tried to stop playing, and then mastered the game when he gave it another try. He struggled to answer Roseman’s question as his sister screamed in the background.

“The kids who you’re really proud for are ones who are self-made football players,” Joseph said. “They work with what they have and he’s one of those kids. He worked. It wasn’t a fluke.”

A seventh-round pick receives little guarantee — “Zero,” Ojomo said — but that was fine. He just needed a chance. Ojomo played sparingly as a rookie and didn’t record a tackle until the penultimate game of the 2023 regular season. But his role increased this season and his first career sack was a pivotal one in the divisional-round win over the Los Angeles Rams. Ojomo is starting to show the promise that made a coach knock on his door.

Of course, he wanted to come to Philly for his next chapter. The guy that gave Brown a motivational book is living a motivational story of his own.

“Dream big,” Ojomo said. “God can do anything in your life. When you look at my story, what are the odds? The most random kid from Nigeria and his cousins are playing football. He starts playing football and now he’s in the NFL. What are the odds? A seventh-round pick makes a deep, talented defensive line like this. Just keep believing in yourself and keep working. Just try. You only get one life so why not give it 110 percent.”