Growing up in Nigeria, David Oke admittedly wasn’t a very good soccer player.
In his own words, he “kind of sucked.” His large frame and physical style of play made him an okay defender, but he couldn’t control the ball at all on the attack.
That skillset was much more suited for a different kind of football — one Oke discovered after moving to the United States in the eighth grade.
When a friend finally convinced him to try out for football as a sophomore at Alief Hastings High in Houston, it was no surprise that Oke made the varsity team, but it would have been impossible to know it was the start of a journey to the SEC.