#53

Duke Ejiofor

Former defensive lineman at Wake Forest. 2017: 6.5 sacks, 16.5 tackles for loss, 43 tackles.

DL · Wake Forest · #53

6′4″ · 275 lb · Houston, TX

Houston — drafted 2018, Rd 6, Pick 3, #177 overall

Recruiting

3★

WDE recruit

No. 1425 nationally · Signed with Wake Forest

Statement game7 tackles · 4 TFL · 3 sacksat Duke (FBS) · W 24-14

Top 1% tackles for loss game since 2021.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former defensive lineman at Wake Forest. 2017: 6.5 sacks, 16.5 tackles for loss, 43 tackles.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Wake Forest in 2013.
Drafted round 6 by the Houston in 2018.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Two seasons at Wake Forest, 17 sacks — drafted at #177 overall by Houston.

His career

2013

Signed with Wake Forest3-star out of Alief Taylor

2018

Drafted by Houstonround 6, pick 177

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1425 national

CFB

College

Wake Forest

2016–2017

NFL

NFL Draft

R6 · #177

Houston · 2018

Where He Ended Up · NFL

HoustonEntering 9th NFL season

#177Rd 6 · Pick 3

HoustonEntering 9th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2017 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2 seasons under Dave Clawson, all run-leaning offenses — 15-11 over that span.

2016Wake Forest7-6HC: Dave Clawson · Run-leaning

2017Wake Forest8-5HC: Dave Clawson · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: qb hurries (99th percentile). Strength: tackles for loss (99th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#12 / 2682 · 99th pct

Tackles for loss#17 / 2682 · 99th pct

16.5

Sacks#72 / 2682 · 97th pct

6.5

Solo tackles#839 / 2682 · 68th pct

Tackles#857 / 2682 · 68th pct

Passes defended#1090 / 2682 · 49th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2017 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	4.2	1.9	0.8	0.2
Road6g	3.7	1.2	0.4	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	4.0	1.8	0.4	0.1
Weeks 8+4g	3.8	1.0	0.9	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jake Dickert

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2017

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2017	Wake Forest	43	26	16.5	6.5	1	--	--
2016	Wake Forest	50	30	17.0	10.5	4	1	--
Career		93	56	33.5	17.0	5	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 9 · 2017

W 42–32

vs Louisville

5 TOT · 3 SOLO · 1 SACKS

Edged out Louisville at home in a shootout.

With J. Wolford — 461 yds · 5 TD · 0 INT · QBR 98.8 · 14 rush yds (4 car) · 1 TD · G. Dortch — -6 rush yds (1 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week