Six Nigerian families will see their sons on the biggest stage in America on Sunday when two NFL teams play in the Super Bowl. The Cincinnati Bengals, winner of the American Football Conference (AFC), has five Nigerians. Their rival, the Los Angeles Rams, who are the champions of the National Football Conference (NFC), has only one African, also a Nigerian.
About 2,000 players started the season on 32 teams. Most dreamed of making it to this championship game – and winning. The five Nigerians who have made it this far are among 50 Africans in the league.
Four active players on the Bengals are Hakeem Adeniji, Chidobe Awuzie, Larry Ogunjobi, and C.J. Uzomah. Larry Ossai, who began the season with lots of promise in this his rookie (first) year, got injured during a preseason (exhibition) game and has been out the entire season. Coincidentally, he is the only African on the team who was born in Nigeria.
As noted in a previous post, Awuzie who is 26 years old, plays Corner Back. His main responsibility is to line up against wide receivers, match them speed for speed, make every move they make, prevent them from catching the ball or stop them from moving forward if they made a catch. This year, he scored 64 tackles in the 14 games he played, all as a starter. Awuzie is in his 5th year in the league and wears no 22 jersey.
Uzomah, who is 28, plays as Tight End where he has a dual role as a blocker and ball catcher. He featured in all 17 games during the regular season. Unfortunately, he got hurt during the last game, the championship game. The team has not announced whether or not he is fit to play on Sunday. He wears no 87 jersey. CJ, as he is more popularly known, is in his 7th year in the NFL.
Ogunboji will be watching from the sidelines. He got injured two games prior. He is 27 years old and has spent 5 years in the league. Before his injury, he was a very effective defensive tackle.
Hakeem Adeniji, as an offensive guard, will have his hands full trying to protect his quarterback (QB). He is part of the offensive line – a group of 4 to 5 anonymous fat, but agile, players, who work together to stop opposing defensive players from tackling the QB. Their protection buys the QB a few seconds to throw the ball. Adeniji wears no 77 Jersey. He is 23 years old and has just completed his 2nd year in the NFL.
Ogbonnia “Obo” Okoronkwo is the only African on the Los Angeles Rams. As a linebacker, he lines up each game on the second row of the defense. His main job is to tackle – wide receivers, running backs, or even the QB and maybe coming up against Adeniji. With his speed, he forced opponents to fumble (drop) the ball twice this year.
We will find out on Sunday night how many Nigerian players will be celebrating. If the Bengals win, the number will be five. If the Rams win, then only one will be smiling.
Rooting for the underdog