The bright lights and big crowds that come from playing at college football’s highest level aren’t an issue for Israel Abanikanda. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Panthers running back has always felt comfortable in the midst of excitement.
It’s why he chose to attend Pitt over offers from other programs that have campuses in rural locations. It’s why he told ACC Network earlier this week that when football ends, he could see himself becoming a movie star. And it’s why this fall, when his team went through a complete identity change on offense, he was more than comfortable with stepping into a key role.
Through four games, no Pitt player has shined brighter than Abanikanda. Entering Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech, the junior has already been named the ACC Running Back of the Week twice and leads the conference in rushing with 479 yards on the ground.
“He’s grown,” Pat Narduzzi said of Abanikanda following his 133-yard rushing performance against Western Michigan. “He’s our starting tailback. He’s a special player.”
Coming off a year where Pitt was headlined by one of the nation’s top passing attacks, some are a bit surprised it’s been a running back who’s led the way for the defending ACC champs. Yet those who know Abanikanda best aren’t shocked at all.
From his earliest days on the gridiron to his first few moments at Pitt to now, plenty have seen his potential. As the spotlight continues to grow, more are finding out just what “Izzy” is truly capable of.
Falling in love with the game
Like many, Abanikanda’s introduction to football came through older members of his family. However, the Abanikanda family’s route to the field is far from normal.
Izzy’s parents, Saidi and Mariam Abanikanda, were born in Lagos, Nigeria. Neither had the slightest clue about what went into American football growing up. That changed in 1984, when Saidi decided to attend college in the United States at Georgia Tech.
Despite his love for athletics, Saidi says his parents highly encouraged him to stay away from sports. But early in his college journey, he simply couldn’t resist. A standout sprinter and soccer player, Saidi chose to continue doing the former, trying out for and making the Yellow Jackets track team.
After establishing himself as one of the faster men on campus, people started to take notice — including coaches from a sport he’d never played before.
“Because of my speed, they wanted me to come and join the football team,” Saidi Abanikanda told the Post-Gazette earlier this week. “At that time, I knew nothing about football. I would just work out and do all the drills. They ended up putting me on the scout team just to see what I can do. I tried my best, but I wasn’t a special player on the team.”
Many years would go by before the Abanikandas’ next encounter with football.
Saidi and Mariam would meet back in Nigeria, date long distance, have their first child (Michael), get married and start a life together in America. One day when Michael was in middle school, his sister, Debra, came home with a flier advertising for football tryouts.
She didn’t know it then, but that piece of paper marked the start of two successful football careers.
“I guess you could say that,” Debra said with a laugh. “I don’t even remember that, to be honest. That’s when I was in elementary school. They were passing out fliers, and I just brought it home and he saw it.”
That fall, Michael started his football journey. Watching from the sidelines at every practice, scrimmage and game was his younger brother, Izzy.
“He always wanted to go to the field with Michael,” Saidi recalled. “He wanted to be around the practices. He wanted to be at all the games. One day at a practice, someone gave him a ball. He took the ball home, ran around with it every day and even slept with it. For nearly all of his life, he was very interested in football. He fell in love with it at a young age watching his brother play.”
A year later, Izzy got to be like his brother. He was at least a year younger than every other player in the league — competing as a 4-year-old in the 5-6 age group — but it didn’t matter. From the very start, Israel Abanikanda was a star.
“I remember, in his first game of the season, he just started killing it,” Saidi said. “Every down, he was breaking runs for long yardage. People were shocked that he was a young boy playing with kids that were older than him.
“That’s how it was for him at every level,” he continued, “from the age of 4 all the way to high school.”
‘The big picture’
Shawn O’Connor has coached plenty of talent in his 22 years at Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High. But not even any of his four All-Americans impressed him at a young age the way Abanikanda did.
O’Connor and Izzy first met through Michael, who asked for assistance in recruiting at the end of his senior season. The head coach helped Michael find a spot at the Division I level, as Michael would go on to play at Temple, then Buffalo.
It wouldn’t take long for him to see Michael’s younger brother start wowing college scouts, as well.
“When he was in eighth grade, coach Lance Leipold at Buffalo wanted to have a satellite camp at our school — this is back when you were allowed to do this,” O’Connor reflected. “I snuck Izzy in there as an eighth grader, and there he was, a middle schooler competing against high school kids. He’s not even in high school, and he’s at a college camp already.
“Right from that moment, I was impressed with him, that he was willing to work with kids who were older than him and stronger than him at the time. It seemed like he knew the big picture back then, even as an eighth grader.”
That big-picture mentality was put on display near the end of Abanikanda’s first high school training camp. Though Izzy was talented, his age and size — along with a pair of seniors ahead of him on the depth chart — led O’Connor to think putting him on the JV team would be the best move for his development as a freshman.
However, rather than making the call on his own, the head coach decided to leave it up to Izzy and his father. The then-13-year-old Abanikanda chose a backup role on the varsity squad over a starting spot on JV. His choice proved to be the correct one, as just a few weeks into the season, the undersized, underaged freshman made his way into the running back rotation.
“As the year went on, he ended up getting some playing time,” O’Connor said. “We ended up using all three of our running backs, so he didn’t carry the entire load, but he did a good job.”
O’Connor said at first, Abanikanda’s success at a young age was hard to believe. That changed when he became familiar with the work that took place each day before or after practice.
For nearly all of his life, Abanikanda has abided by a strict and concise routine focused on helping him reach his full potential both academically and athletically.
Starting at the age of 7, Izzy would work nearly every day before practice with a trainer to improve his strength or speed. It was this extra work that allowed him to perform well against older competition — even to this day, Abanikanda is young for his class. Next week, the junior will turn 20.
Each day was very similar to the last: Wake up, go to school, work out with a trainer, go to practice, then it was back to his house for a heavy dose of homework and studying.
“He never had a chance to get into trouble when he was growing up,” Mariam Abanikanda said. “He was always busy.”
Izzy also stayed busy on the field. A successful high school career that included him being named New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2019 landed him an opportunity at Pitt. When he arrived on campus, Abanikanda wasted no time showing his new teammates he belonged.
“As soon as he came in [as a freshman], he broke like a 70-yarder during an indoor practice,” Panthers safety Brandon Hill recalled. “We were like, ‘This guy is big, strong and fast.’ ”
His year
As his team celebrated its season-opening win over West Virginia earlier this month, Abanikanda couldn’t help but feel unsatisfied. The junior played a major role in the win, scoring a game-tying touchdown on a 24-yard catch-and-run with just 3:41 remaining.
Yet for him, it wasn’t enough. Abanikanda knew he was capable of more.
“I know I don’t usually play like that. I had a talk with my brother, my father, even my coaches — coach [Andre] Powell and coach Narduzzi,” Abanikanda said in a recent interview on “ACC PM.” “They expected way more from me, and I expected way more out of myself.”
Those lofty expectations for the 2022 season started in January when Pitt hired Frank Cignetti Jr. to be its new offensive coordinator.
After working his way into the starting lineup in 2021, Abanikanda showed flashes of his potential, but a pass-heavy approach led by Heisman Trophy finalist Kenny Pickett meant limited carries for every member of the Pitt backfield. Cignetti’s hiring meant more of a balanced attack, which was all Izzy needed to start working even harder.
As his success continues, more people are voicing their praise for Abanikanda.
“That boy a star I promise,” former Pitt standout and six-time Pro Bowler LeSean McCoy said of Abanikanda in a tweet days after his 154 yards rushing against Tennessee.
“He's unique,” Narduzzi added. “Le'Veon Bell was one of the best I've been around at Michigan State, and he didn't have that burst that [Izzy’s] got.”
Perhaps the most vocal has been his position coach, who has been around to see him develop into the player he is today.
Throughout his 33 years of coaching college football, Andre Powell has seen plenty of talented running backs, including pros like James Conner and Qadree Ollison during his time at Pitt.
When asked about Izzy in recent weeks, Powell’s face beamed with pride. The running backs coach highlighted the strides Abanikanda has made in the weight room, telling reporters the junior has “a 10-pack” and “functional strength.”
But the physical tools aren’t what have Powell the most excited — it’s Abanikanda’s development on the mental side of the game.
“Every week, he’s more involved,” Powell said. “He’s asking more questions. You check his notes — he's got more notes. The tests that we give them on Fridays, he’s making good grades on those. He’s just maturing. He’s beginning to feel it. It feels like it’s his, you know?”
With the numbers Abanikanda posted in September, it’s hard to argue Powell’s claim. Week by week, the junior tailback continues to look more impressive.
Following his most recent effort, which included a career-best 177 yards rushing and four touchdowns against Rhode Island, Abanikanda was asked if impressive stats like that had become an expectation.
“It’s never been an expectation,” Abanikanda responded. “I already know what I can do and what I can prove.”
The reporter followed up by asking Abanikanda what he was trying to prove.
“That I’m great,” he responded.
With ACC play kicking off Saturday, Israel Abanikanda will look to continue doing just that.
Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles
First Published: September 30, 2022, 9:30 a.m.
