A Nigerian star has been shining brightly in Columbus, Ohio for several years. Today, he will be visible in all corners of the United States to anyone who has cable television.
That star is Emeka Egbuka.
This will not be Emeka’s first introduction to America. He was on national television multiple times as a wide receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes college football team. But the stage will be much bigger today. This eve he will debut nationally as wide out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Bucs) of the National Football League (NFL).
Egbuka came to the NFL with a solid reputation as a player. But his performance last week in his first NFL game is driving crazy anticipation about him for today’s game.
The team already has two of the best wide receivers in the country, so Egbuka has a long way to go to be the best in Tampa. Even so, he caught two touch downs in highly contested plays, thus scoring 14 of the 23 that his team got in that game. He caught four passes in that game, going an average of
Emeka is the son of Henry Egbuka and Rhonda Ogilvie. Henry moved to the United States from Nigeria two decades ago and now works as a civilian for the US Army. His mother, Rhonda, is a native born American and works for a major healthcare agency.
Emeka credits his parents and his very highly competitive family for his athletic success. While we know him now as a football player, he was also a star baseball player in high school.
The family that gave Egbuka structure
This year, the Bucs took Emeka in the first round of the NFL draft. He thus became only the second wide receiver of African descent to be drafted in the first round, following Rome Odunze who the Chicago Bears took in the first round in 2024. Both Emeka and Rome were amazing players in college, but Odunze has not received much national notoriety in part because he plays on a team that did poorly in 2024. www.helmetafrica.com covered some of Odunze’s highlights before the draft.
But Emeka and Rome are rare among African players in playing the somewhat glamorous position of wide out. Football is a team sport where every position is important, but not all positions receive TV attention.
