SmashMouth

Five years ago, Manitoba football coach Brian Dobie heard a quiet knock on the door of his office.

In walked 18-year-old David Onyemata, a 6-foot-4 giant of a teenager who weighed 330 pounds at the time and had never picked up a football in his life.

"I never knew anything about it or the process, and I hadn't seen the game until I got to Canada," Onyemata said.

Onyemata, an international student far away from his home of Nigeria, needed an activity. Football sounded fun.

"All I did was go to school and go back home," Onyemata said. "I had so much free time that I needed to do something. I ended up trying out for the team."




Dobie said he'd give him a week's tryout.

What happened over the next five years is so remarkable Dobie got emotional when he spoke to reporters on Saturday. Onyemata transformed from a football neophyte to a sought after NFL defensive lineman prospect.

On Saturday, the New Orleans Saints traded up to get Onyemata in the fourth round, making him the first player from the University of Mantioba to be drafted in the NFL.

"David's a great story, he's a guy you would say is a self-made guy," Payton told the NFL Network on Saturday. "I love the kid's makeup. He's one of those guys that has had to accomplish a lot to be where he is now."

"Up here in Canada, we're literally calling him Cinderella," Dobie said.

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