understatement.
“All I can say to you is this: He’s
special. He’s a really special young
man. I truly believe that he will be
drafted and will easily play in the CFL
and maybe, just maybe, follow Izzy to
the NFL.”
Really? This is a young man who did
not show up in Canada until May of
2011 and now he’s the best lineman
in the country and perhaps the next
Canadian to play in the NFL?
Apparently so.
“I came from Lagos, Nigeria just
to go to school,” said Onyemata, the
youngest of six kids. “I just wanted to
leave home to go to school and take
economics. And I wanted to learn to
play football. Without Coach Dobie I
would never have had the chance.”
Onyemata’s father is a successful
Nigerian businessman. As a high
school student in Nigeria, he played
soccer and basketball. The only time
he ever saw a North American football
game came at those rare moments
when the NFL was shown back home
in Lagos.
Now, he is the top ranked CIS
player in the CFL Scouting Bureau’s
initial draft rankings. Released last
September, he was No. 2 on the list and
the top CIS graduate. Five years ago, no
one on the planet would have believed
it was possible.
“Truly, and I mean truly, he’s special,”
Dobie said. “His future is unlimited.
He can be as great as he wants to be
and he hasn’t shown us anything that
doesn’t make me think he might be the
most successful football player ever to
come out of our program.” l
sportslife / 21