As the football season ends, it is the start to the season for some of the future stars of the National Football League. For all football players’, the dream is to play in the NFL. For the top stars of college football, they are very close to achieving their dreams.

DeMatha currently has two alumni who were college football stars, and will be taking the next steps to achieving their goals of playing football at the highest level. DeMarcco Hellams ’19 who graduated from the University of Alabama, and Olu Oluwatimi ’18 who graduated from the University of Virginia, transferred, and did a graduate year at the University of Michigan, are both preparing as they will attend the NFL Combine that will take place from February 28th through March 6th in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Both of the Stag alums are coming off of stellar senior seasons this past year. DeMarcco Hellams, who led Alabama in total tackles in the 2022 season,  who helped lead Alabama to a 11 win season and helped the team beat Kansas State in the AllState Sugar Bowl, has drawn a lot of attention from NFL scouts and became a top player in his position for the upcoming draft. But this is nothing new for the Alabama standout. Coming out of high school, he was ranked by multiple websites as one of the top players at his position. Deno Campbell, who is an assistant coach for the DeMatha football team while Hellams was on the team, describes him as an “undeniable leader for the team” during his senior year. You can see that carry on to Alabama, which helped Hellams have a very successful 4 years there.

Olu Oluwatimi, who won the Joe Moore award which is given to the best center in college football, has had quite a journey himself. He started his high school career at Carroll before transferring to DeMatha. As part of the varsity team, he was known as the “quiet giant,” assistant coach Campbell said. “He wasn’t the most talented player, but he was very smart and did exactly what he was coached to do. Olu deserves everything he gets because he will work extremely hard to accomplish his goals.” Oluwatimi has been very underrated and under the spotlight in the football scene, but the hard work and dedication that he has put into achieving his long life goal of playing in the NFL are starting to pay off as now, he will be entering the draft as the top prospect at the center position.

As the NFL combine and draft approach, keep a look out for these stags as they begin the journey of achieving their dreams of playing in the National Football League. They will continue to work hard to be the best versions of themselves as well as make the DeMatha community proud.