Potential Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Kenneth Odumegwu has never met former franchise quarterback Aaron Rodgers. A year ago he'd only vaguely heard of the now-Jets QB, and Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, but that was as far as his NFL knowledge went.
He'd never even touched a football, back then.
Like many tall and talented Nigerian teens, Odumegwu, who was recently allocated to the Packers via the NFL's International Player Pathway, was aiming for the NBA last year, when a scout in Nigeria changed his sporting direction.
Odumegwu [22] is one of a few Nigerian basketballers scouted by American football mentors like Osi Umenyiora's Uprise programme in Lagos in recent years, many of whom, like the Los Angeles Chargers' CJ Okoye, have reached the IPP with little more than a basic education in football.