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How the NFL Academy is helping the league grow internationally

Related Topics: Emmanuel Okoye, Osi Umenyiora

EMMANUEL OKOYE STEPPED out of the airport last September in London and the first thing he noticed was the cold. He wasn't prepared for it.

How in the span of a few months did he transform from a basketball player in Nigeria to a college prospect in a game he knew little about? He had watched football only on television, yet it was football -- American football -- that led him to get on the plane in Lagos in search of the opportunity he never knew existed.

Nigerian coaches spotted Okoye in 2022 while they were scouting for a football camp put on by former NFL player Osi Umenyiora.