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.