Back to the Michigan Wolverines Newsfeed

Kwity Paye escaped civil war. Now he stars for Michigan football

Skip to main content

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh speaks to the media on Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, in Ann Arbor. Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press

Kwity Paye is not known as the most vocal person. His former youth and high school coaches describe him as “quiet” and “shy.”

But there’s one subject Michigan football's junior defensive end doesn’t hesitate to speak up about: his background.

Paye was born in Guinea as a refugee of the first Liberian civil war. His mother, Agnes Paye, fled Liberia and settled in Sierra Leone, where she gave birth to Paye’s older brother, Komotay Koffie.