Mesabi Range College defensive lineman Samuel Okuayinonu is still surprised by the attention he is getting on the recruiting trail - even after earning the Minnesota College Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year award.
"The JUCO experience... crazy man," he said. "I went from a kid who barely had 20 tackles in high school to being the defensive player of the year in my JUCO, finishing top three in sacks with 17.5, all-conference, all that stuff...it's pretty exciting. It's pretty exciting for me."
The 6-foot-2, 270-pound defensive lineman grew up in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa and came to America at the age of 13 having played soccer as a child.