Emmanuel Okoye: Meet the rising NFL prospect who has fast-tracked his career in Leicestershire

Emmanuel Okoye grew up with a shot astatine his feet and hoops adjacent to his heart, but it turns retired helium was made for gridiron.

His travel to Knoxville has been a dizzying one. He was scouted during a hoops grooming campy successful Lagos, past fixed a accidental to impressment successful an NFL Africa campy successful Ghana earlier being fast-tracked to the NFL's Academy successful agrarian Leicestershire.

"It's happened truthful fast," Okoye told BBC East Midlands Today.

"I've conscionable had to instrumentality it in. I can't instrumentality it arsenic truthful overmuch of a surprise, due to the fact that I mightiness beryllium knocked down."

Two-time Super Bowl champion Osi Umenyiora, who made the determination from Nigeria to the United States astatine the property of 14 himself, has played an instrumental relation successful Okoye's stunning emergence from obscurity.

'He has a wholly antithetic level'

Umenyiora archetypal saw societal media highlights of the teenager, who stands astatine 196cm (6ft 4in) tall, weighs successful astatine 104kg (16st 5lb) and has a wingspan of 7ft (2.13m) and invited the explosive youngster to the inaugural Uprise American Football endowment recognition campy helium was overseeing successful the Nigerian superior of Abuja.

Okoye has been impressing ever since, getting crippled clip arsenic a antiaircraft extremity and connected peculiar teams.

At the NFL Academy Combine - a investigating crushed for imaginable stars of the aboriginal - helium produced record-breaking results to emphasise conscionable what helium is susceptible of.

His 45.5in (116cm) vertical leap and 11ft 3ins (3.43m) wide leap - a leap guardant from a squatting presumption - would some beryllium NFL Combine records for a subordinate successful his presumption and are 2 large reasons that Umenyiora sees a frighteningly large aboriginal for the teenager.

"I deliberation he's astir apt much diversion than astir radical I've seen adjacent successful the NFL and they are immoderate brainsick athletes," said Umenyiora, who played arsenic a antiaircraft extremity for the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons.

"He has a wholly antithetic level that helium has been capable to get to and his numbers bespeak that.

"The abilities helium has are 2nd to nary and erstwhile helium starts to bid decently and devour decently helium is conscionable going to spell to a wholly antithetic level.

"I'm really acrophobic for people."

Emmanuel Okoye has lone been progressive successful the athletics for a year

It took conscionable 3 games for the Loughborough University-based NFL Academy to alteration the novice into a overmuch sought aft prospect, with the University of South Carolina, Texas Tech and Vanderbilt University among the Division 1 colleges to marque offers earlier Okoye committed to Tennessee.

"There are a batch of talented athletes, but I've got to beryllium honorable and accidental determination are not a batch of talented athletes similar him," Umenyiora said.

"Even though helium doesn't truly cognize what helium is doing yet, you spot flashes of what is going to abstracted him from everybody else."

Okoye smiles erstwhile helium hears Umenyiora's precocious praise, but helium remains focused connected making this unthinkable one-year emergence into a life-changing and career-building opportunity.

"I cognize helium has truthful overmuch assurance successful me," Okoye said of Umenyiora.

"The Academy is simply a large place, a large programme to springiness you the foundations and fundamentals you request to determination connected to the adjacent level.

"I conscionable request to support going now."

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