FRISCO, Texas – Donovan Ezeiruaku was born in Williamstown, New Jersey and grew up in a family of Philadelphia Eagles fans. After the Cowboys selected him with the 44th overall pick in the NFL Draft last week, he's forced them to abandon that fandom.
"All that is gone," Ezeiruaku said. "I've got an uncle who was a Philly fanatic, and he's going through it right now because he's got to throw away all his Philly gear in his mancave downstairs. It's serious."
While his uncle and the rest of his family is processing their transition to becoming Cowboys fans, Ezeiruaku is still processing living out every football player's dream and getting accustomed to his new home.
"It's pretty cool, I think I'm still kind of processing being grabbed, orientational stuff," Ezeiruaku said. "But it's pretty cool actually being here and seeing a little bit of the practice, I'm excited."
Ezeiruaku arrived at the Star in Frisco on Thursday alongside his new rookie teammates ahead of the Cowboys' rookie minicam, which begins on Friday. The group is still in the early parts of getting to know one another, but they all share a common trait.
"You can tell we've got a little edge to us, that competitive edge," Ezeiruaku said. "It's been pretty good, we seem pretty cool, feeling each other out, but it's been good."
In his own right, Ezeiruaku stands out pretty easily. At 6'2, 248 pounds, he had a monster senior season at Boston College tallying 16.5 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss, both career highs.
Having the ability to both stop the run off the edge and get to the quarterback is something that Ezeiruaku prides himself on, and is ready to bring to Dallas.
"They're getting somebody who is athletic off the edge but is a dawg," Ezeiruaku said. "He's going to stick his nose in there in the run game, and he's going to get after the quarterback in the passing game. Hard working dude, a great person off the field, that's what the Dallas Cowboys are getting out of me…"
"You can't just be a one trick pony, I think that's kind of what separates me and what separates good and great players. It's very important to be versatile."
With the Cowboys, he'll get to line up on the opposite side of All-Pro Micah Parsons. It's an opportunity the two have already spoken about, and are ready to wreck havoc in backfields for years to come.
"It's going to be fun, he reached out after the draft, he said 'Let's get to work,' and I said 'Let's do it.' I'm excited, having somebody of that caliber on the other side of the field, it'll be very special to see."
