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ACCRA, GHANA — Regardless of successful the Tremendous Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams final season, defensive finish Ogbonnia ‘Obo’ Okoronkwo informed ESPN that his solely logical step was to signal with the Houston Texans so he may give again to his neighborhood.
Okoronkwo, who’s at the moment serving to out on the NFL’s first coaching camp in Africa, began taking part in soccer in his junior 12 months at Alief Taylor Excessive Faculty in Texas, taking part in the sport secretly, towards his father’s needs.
He says Houston made him fall in love with soccer, and because the son of two Nigerian mother and father, it’s little shock that he feels at dwelling in a metropolis that has the second-largest Nigerian population in the US.
“After successful the Tremendous Bowl, I felt prefer it was crucial to me to go dwelling and begin working in my neighborhood, so I made a decision to signal a take care of the Texans and begin giving again as quickly as I may,” Okoronkwo informed ESPN in Ghana.
“At this level, now, I am able to go win one other [Super Bowl]. I’ve celebrated and I am simply able to get again to work. With my new crew, there’s a whole lot of work to do. I am very grateful and grateful for the experiences that I’ve had, however it is time to get to work once more.”
Okoronkwo has a formidable work ethic now, however this was not at all times the case, he says. Though the game earned him a scholarship to the College of Oklahoma — one thing that not even his father may flip down — he nonetheless handled it as a interest, unaware of his potential till he was made to imagine in it by the belief positioned in him by his crew.
“After I obtained to school, that was solely my second 12 months taking part in organised soccer, so I did not know the way far it could take me — no clue. After I obtained there, I used to be nonetheless making an attempt to determine the nuances of the sport and making an attempt to determine if I may actually do it and if I used to be adequate,” he admitted.
“I used to be taking part in behind a few proficient gamers… As soon as they left and it was my time to play and I used to be seeing {that a} large programme like Oklahoma was counting on me to step in and fill some large sneakers, the strain kind of made me realise I needed to kind of lock in.”
Okoronkwo was the Massive 12 Defensive Participant of the 12 months as a senior in 2017 and was drafted by the Rams within the fifth spherical of the 2018 NFL Draft. As soon as once more, he discovered himself in a aggressive squad, however managed to make an affect. Now, he is able to tackle a extra senior function and the 27-year-old is within the best setting to take action at Houston.
The transfer again to Texas is, nonetheless, not the one means during which soccer has introduced him full circle. After being approached by NFL Africa, he has been helping with the organisation’s camp on the Proper to Dream Academy in Ghana.
Led by two-time Tremendous Bowl winner Osi Umenyiora, the NFL is looking for essentially the most promising expertise on the continent to introduce to its academy and Worldwide Participant Pathway programme (IPP). Forty standout gamers from Umenyiora’s Uprise camps in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa took half this week.
Okoronkwo, like most of the camp contributors, began taking part in the sport in his late teenagers, and was impressed by the talents the prospects had picked up in a brief time period.
“I positively did [expect the high standard of play]. However I did not suppose that it was going to be as polished because it was — I believed it was going to be somewhat bit extra uncooked. I used to be actually impressed with how far alongside they’re with the sport,” Okoronkwo stated.
This was solely his second go to to Africa, however he doesn’t intend for it to be his final.
“That is my first time ever doing something like this and I’ve solely been to Africa one time earlier than this. It has been a surreal expertise being right here, being the place I am from, and with the ability to simply give again and contribute to one thing so large like this,” he stated.
“[I hope that the NFL can] proceed to convey publicity to those uncooked athletes out right here which can be in Africa that would not get the chance in any other case. I met a man on my crew now who went by [the IPP]. His title is Dayo [Adedayo Odeleye].
“The man is a freak athlete – there’s a lot untapped potential. We’re watching him get higher day by day below the Texans teaching workers.
“Simply to see that confirmed me what number of guys are out right here which can be simply hidden gems that would actually come to the NFL and achieve success.”
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