This is the story of Emmanuel Okoye from Lagos, Nigeria, who just over a year ago had dreams of being a basketball star. But having been discovered by Educational Basketball, was given the opportunity to try football by two-time Super Bowl champion Osi Umenyiora at the NFL Africa camp in Ghana.
His athletic ability and dedication earned him a place at the NFL Academy, a high school football program based in Loughborough College and University in the UK.
Here he developed as a defensive end, showcasing his talents on the field as well as during his combine testing where he JUMPED A 45.5” VERTICAL - which would be a NFL record for his position.
Following this, he received a string of Division 1 scholarship offers. After making his official visits, Emmanuel has committed to the University of Tennessee and will enroll in June.
Follow his journey and more like him on the official NFL Academy social channels:
Yes, I think I can. I have UTSA, Vanderbilt, Grambling State, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Texas Tech, Colorado.
I'm Emmanuel Okoye. I play for the NFL Academy as a defensive end.
I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. I've always been into sports. When I was like 15, I got into basketball. I was an all-around player, so I was this explosive guy.
I was discovered by Educational Basketball earlier last year, and I was invited for O.C.U. Menorah's Uprise Camp in Abuja.
I saw Emmanuel first. One of the scouting programs that we have sent me a tape of a guy. I saw him running around and then decided we were going to have a camp.
We were going to bring all the people who we had found together, and the first time I saw him in person was probably March of last year.
The camps, it was my first time being into something like football, so I was trying to wrap my head around it. It was a really great experience meeting people like O.C., Legend, and Chris Dorham for the first time.
It was a blessing. He enlightened me on so much stuff I never knew about football.
He did stand out. I think whenever you see a guy with his frame and his ability, took him to the vertical jump. He was jumping at like 38, 39 then.
His broad jump was well over 10 feet, 40-yard dash. I'm not even sure I remember what it was, but for a guy who hadn't been trained, at some point he didn't have the proper footwear.
He was doing a lot of these drills just in his socks. The ability for him to put up those kind of numbers like that was fantastic.
He's the prototype of what we're looking for, not only in Africa, but everywhere in the world. If you're going to be coming to the NFL Academy, you really should fit that profile. That was an easy decision for us.
My first time on the field wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Having a great coach like Coach Now, putting me through so much stuff. Anything I need to know, he lets me know.
The coaching of Emmanuel, you have to go back to bare bones. We have our gaps, A, B, and C gaps. We try to make it more relatable to him. We start here, A, B, C, and try to find those building blocks from there.
He's a smart guy too, so the moment you make something very relatable to him and he's able to translate himself, it makes it easier for me to coach him.
These are the first coaches I've ever had in football, so them bringing me up to this level I am right now. I'm not on top, but at least they've brought me to somewhere where I can show out and show what I have.
The thing is, I never knew how complex the game was, but with the help of my coaches and my teammates, I was able to grasp it that easy.
The Academy has really taught me how the sport works. There will be times where it's up, there will be times where it's down. We go through the motions together as a team and as a brotherhood.
The first time I actually got into contact was me getting hit by someone. It was kind of a shock and it was different. I really love the feeling and I just had to take it off from there. I love the aggressiveness. I love hitting before getting hit.
I know I'm blessed with physical gifts and I know I could do better than that, to be honest. My abilities have no limits, so whatever the NFL record is, I don't really put my mind in that. I just do what I do.
It's very rare to see a guy with that kind of talent. I'm not going to say that there's a million of them in Africa because there are not. He's a unique individual.
Me just coming into the game, not up to a year and all these opportunities have been given to me by schools to play and study. It's a really good lesson. I'm grateful for it.
Knowing where he came from and knowing the background, knowing the first time I saw him and seeing these things happen for him now is really inspiring.
My first time in the States was amazing. Meeting the coaches that I've been talking to for quite a while in person was really huge. Having that feel of being in a college environment was a good one.
My sister was with me. Seeing her after a long time, I was really happy to see her. I visited the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech and University of Southern California.
It was important to help solidify my decision on where I'm going to spend the rest four to five years of my life.
I will be commuting to the University of Tennessee. Go Vols!
I'm looking to be out there. I'm looking to get to work with my new teammates, new program. I'm looking to be the best person I can be, the best player I can ever be.
The whole journey is God's writing. If I tell someone my story, they just feel like, wow, it's not something that I feel can just happen out of nowhere.
Coming from where I come from, my parents could never afford the amount of money that would be put into my scholarship, so my parents are really happy and grateful that such great things are happening in my life.
In this life, there's no ceiling to what you can achieve as a person, so I never knew I would be in this position today.
No matter how little, you'll be 100% and put the rest in the hands of God and he will work with what you've done.
I'm happy for you, man. I'm happy for you. You've made us all here proud. You've made your country proud. You've made Africa proud.
No matter what happens going forward, I know you're going to continue to work as hard as you possibly can and you're going to do tremendous things wherever you go.
