THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Obasi Dees, a senior defensive back for Cal Lutheran football, wraps up his collegiate career this week as he received an invitation to the 2020 Hula Bowl. The Hula Bowl began in 1946 and became a top college all-star showcase, taking place at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The event will be held on Sunday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. PST. The game features players across all NCAA Division, I, II and III, as well as NAIA. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network. To find out more information and see clips and videos of the week leading up, you can check out HulaBowl.com.
This season, Dees was named D3football.com All-America, American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Second Team All-America, First Team All-West Region and First Team All-SCIAC.
He was just the eighth Kingsmen, and first since 2012, to earn First Team All-America and is just the second Kingsmen to earn two All-America awards in the same season.
He also set two firsts for the program as he was the first Kingsmen to be named First Team All-West Region twice and first to earn First Team All-SCIAC all four years.
We sat down with Dees to talk the Hula Bowl, his accomplishments with Kingsmen football and what's next for his football career.
How much did you know about the Hula Bowl before you got picked? I knew it was one of the most premiere All-Star games.
What was the process of getting selected, and how did you find out? They reached out to me. Coach McEnroe knows someone at the Hula Bowl and is really good friends with them. I'm pretty sure he sent my highlight video and was talking to them. They sent me an invitation shortly after my season at Cal Lutheran.
What is your mentality knowing that you're going up against Division I, II, and III guys? The mentality stays the same, just keep working. I'm hungry and I can't wait to go up against those top-notch guys. I'm grateful to be able to showcase my talent and show what I can do. I feel like God has blessed me with talent and I feel like I can run with them as well. At the end of the day, they are as human as me.
Jan. 26 th is the game, do you have things planned for the week you are out there? I leave Jan. 21, and there will be a week of practice leading up to the game. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are all practice days. Saturday will be a light practice and Sunday is the game.
You were First Team All-SCIAC all four years, first time someone at Cal Lutheran has done that. Looking at other schools, it is just a handful of guys. The list isn't that big so what is it like hearing that honor? Hearing that honor, First Team All-SCIAC, all four years, makes me feel very blessed. God has really shown his light upon me and I feel very honored. I'm happy I got that, but there is more work to be done. I'm not going to stay satisfied with that because I do have an end goal to where I want to go. I'm forever thankful that I got that and I'm thankful I'm in the Cal Lutheran history books. And it's all because of God.
And then you also got D3football.com All-America as well, what does that mean to you? It's just all God. I'm pretty much nothing without him. Hearing constantly First Team All-SCIAC has led me to work harder and led me to getting D3 All-America. That was always my goal. I wanted to shoot for All-Region and All-American. By the grace of God, I got it. Hearing that the Cal Lutheran list is very short, for First Team All-America, I'm really thankful. I'm among the CLU football legends and I'm very honored to be a part of the group.
Moving on from there, after the Hula Bowl, what else is in the works? After thanksgiving break, I started training with Lucas Quinn. He's one of our assistant strength and conditioning coaches at Cal Lutheran and has opened his own gym at Westlake. So I've been working with him at his gym and I've also been doing some DB work with a trainer, Air Justin, and his brand is Air athletics. I've also done a few competing sessions every Saturday at Moorpark and Pierce College. At the Hula Bowl, there will be NFL scouts that have taken an interest in me. So God willing, I'll show out and do my thing. Then from there, I'll have my pro day March or April, and the scouts will come there as well, and from there get invited to a rookie training camp.
CLU Instagram: CLUSports
Sport IG: kingsmen_football
CLU Twitter: CLUSports
Sport Twitter: CLUFootball
CLU Facebook: CLUSports
Hashtags: #clusports #ownthethrone #goregals #gokingsmen #theSCIAC #ncaad3
Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director