When former Gophers cornerback Kunle Ayinde walked into the locker room at Blaine High School, he was trying to adjust to new surroundings. The young ninth grader was beginning a new sport -- one he had never played competitively before. For the young teenager, everything was new, including how to put on pads.
“There was one other guy in my locker room and I didn’t know anything,” Ayinde said. “Like I didn’t know how to put my pants on, put my pads in, none of that and he kind of just walked me through it.”
The odds have been stacked against Ayinde his entire career.