Jimeto Obigbo and Emeka Obigbo spent their entire lives lining up together as teammates. Jimeto Obigbo’s decision to transfer to ASU now pits them as opponents.
TEMPE, Ariz. — If you start to see double on Saturday at Mountain America Stadium, your eyes are not deceiving you.
Arizona State offensive lineman Jimeto Obigbo said it happens to everyone.
“When we were the same weight, it was just hard. And we used to dress up the same. We used to get everybody,” he said.
When ASU hosts Texas State, it will be a showdown among siblings and a tango between twins.
“I remember backyard football. We would just get the ball and just see how hard we could run into each other. We used to do that. But we started getting bigger, so we can break bones,” Jimeto Obigbo said.
Broken bones would hurt extra because there’s are carbon copies of each other.
As identical twins who have walked nearly identical paths, Jimeto Obigbo and Emeka Obigbo have been attached at the hip since birth.
They played high school football together. They played college football together at Incarnate Word. They transferred together to Texas State.
“I played tackle. He got to play guard next to me. That’s a one in a million dream to play right next to your brother,” Jimeto Obigbo said.
That made the juncture Jimeto Obigbo faced last year a real pitchfork in the road.
He had spent his entire life in the heart of Texas and his entire life next to someone who shared his heartbeat.
The decision to split was a power move to a Power Four school.
“It was due. It was due from that time just to increase my talent level and my play level,” he said.
So Jimeto Obigbo left Texas and his twin for Tempe.
Saturday will be their first family feud. Any bad blood would be spilled by the same blood.
“Coming of age. You got to write your own story and do your own thing,” Jimeto Obigbo said.