Numerical Roster Countdown: Day 37, Ebo Makinde

There are 37 days until kickoff, so today's profile is on No. 37, Ebo Makinde.

#37, Ebo Makinde, Senior, Safety

Stats

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 179 lbs

Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona

High School: Paradise Valley

How'd he get to The Blue^TM?

The Broncos found Makinde in Arizona, home to a steady drip of quality and future Bronco players (incoming freshman QB Ryan Finley is Arizonan) and also home to Bronco coach Scott Huff. Makinde was a seven-time letterman at Paradise Valley High School and was named first-team All-Desert Sky Conference as a senior as well as first-team all-region and first-team all-state. He also made noise in track - specifically, a whooshing noise as he ran past people in the 400-meters where he was a two-time state champ.

Makinde received a scout grade of 74 by ESPN's recruiting service and was offered by Arizona, SDSU, Utah, UNLV, UTEP, and Wyoming. He chuckled a little at the UNLV offer.

Nickname

Ebenezer "Scrooge" Makinde

Bee's Knee's Makinde

Sneezer Makinde

Look-a-like

Kenny from The Cosby Show

Career highlights

Football isn't everything (just kidding, yes it is); academics can be highlights, too. Makinde has been a three-time conference All-Academic Team person (player? scholar? nerd?), honored two times by the Mountain West and once by the WAC, rest in peace. Makinde majored in media production, graduated this past May, and will be running ESPN4 any day now.

2013 prospectus

Where will you find the fastest football player on the 2013 Boise State football team? Cornerback? Not quite. Wide receiver? Getting colder. Running back? Ack, you're ice cold. You're freezing up!

He's at safety.

Makinde ran a 4.24 40-yard dash at Boise State's spring testing day, the fastest time of any Bronco and probably the fastest time of any safety ever. Safeties aren't typically blazers. No doubt the Bronco coaches can make Makinde's speed a valuable addition to the Bronco defense's back end (I don't want to call it a rear end), but I'm not sure anyone has done it before. Just what exactly do you do with a cheetah at a position normally reserved for centerfielders and sledgehammers? No doubt Makinde has range; he was a cornerback for the first four years of his Bronco existence and he can go sideline-to-sideline in under five seconds. In many ways, being fast and smart are two of the most enviable skills a free safety can have. With Lee Hightower doing unspecified things down in Houston now, there is more room at safety than the Broncos might have planned. Makinde has a chance, along with Dillon Lukehart, Chanceller James, and Taylor Loffler, to score some valuable backup time. He doesn't figure to displace the ball-hawking Darian Thompson, but with speed and experience, he figures to make a mark somewhere, somehow. Maybe in special packages. Definitely on special teams. Possibly on XFL Scrambles, should the NCAA adopt those.

Completely made up fact

In a class for his media production major, Ebo Makinde ghost-wrote the script for Sharknado.