Michael Onyemaobi doesn’t have the easiest last name to pronounce, especially when it comes to football coaches barking out instructions during practice. Not many care to say a five-syllable last name — on-yay-may-OH-bee — during a heated moment.

So it’s no surprise that one of Onyemaobi’s childhood football coaches gave him the nickname ‘Yo-yo.’

“He just saw a bunch of Os and a bunch of Ys and said, ‘How about Yo-yo?’” Onyemaobi said, smiling. “It just kind of stuck.”

That nickname has carried into his TCU days, although coach Gary Patterson will sometimes refer to Onyemaobi as “Obi-Wan Kenobi” of Star Wars fame.

Nowadays, though, Onyemaobi is known as a feel-good story during a season that hasn’t produced too many positive storylines. The Horned Frogs have lost more games than they’ve won at this point. They’ve battled injuries. Heck, there’s questions whether Patterson is still the right man to lead the program.

But Onyemaobi became a bright spot simply by suiting up. This is a guy who played in only one game his first four seasons at TCU. He had a redshirt season as a true freshman in 2017, and then sustained a season-ending injury in the 2018 opener against Southern.

Onyemaobi had a similar injury to former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith. Onyemaobi tore his ACL, but the bigger issue was significant damage to his peroneal nerve that caused a drop foot condition.

That drop foot condition took 3 1/2 years to fully recover from.

“A ton of rehab, a lot of patience, just kind of waiting for the nerve to actually fire back,” Onyemaobi said. “My knee was always doing well, but my foot just took a little more time. Now I’m there. I’m back 100%. I feel amazing, just excited to get to compete.”

Onyemaobi cleared a significant hurdle in this year’s opener against Duquesne, returning to action on special teams. He’s played in every game since, including making a tackle for loss in the Oklahoma game.

Then, last week against West Virginia, Onyemaobi found himself in the starting lineup due to a number of TCU safeties battling injuries. He finished with a career-high five tackles and one pass breakup in a 29-17 loss.

“It was a blast. It was fun to finally get back out there with the guys,” said Onyemaobi, who was part of TCU’s 2017 recruiting class as a three-star prospect out of Chaparral High School in Temecula, California.

“It’s been a long road coming back. Getting back out there and getting my feet wet, having the opportunity to compete again, it’s been a blessing. It’s been awesome.”

Returning to the field has made the rehab and recovery process worth it. Onyemaobi acknowledged there were moments he wondered if that would ever be the case.

“More than I’d like to admit,” he said. “Thanks to the consistency around myself with the program, with the staff, with my teammates, a lot of faith — those things really kept me going.

“Like I told my mom, even just putting on the pads and helmet again was a blessing in itself. Whatever else comes with it? It’s just icing on the cake.”

Signs point to Onyemaobi remaining in the starting lineup going into Saturday’s game at Kansas State. Patterson said safeties Bud Clark and Deshawn McCuin aren’t expected to return.

Patterson would prefer a healthy roster, of course, but he likes a good story. And it’s hard to find one better than Onyemaobi. Patterson has never had a player rehab as long as him.

“Not in 40 years, let alone 24 years,” Patterson said. “He’s a great kid. It’s good that he had an opportunity. You just wish we weren’t in the situation that we had to do it, but we need him to play well for us to win ballgames the last half of the season.”

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