The NFL is full of player success stories that are incredibly unlikely.
One of them involves a running back who played his college ball at Division II Asuza Pacific, who became one of if not the most intimidating NFL running backs of all-time.
All one has to do is taking one glance at his nickname to know he was the real deal.
His nickname: The Nigerian Nightmare.
Yes, Christian Okoye was that frightening on the football field by the time he got to the NFL, so you can only imagine the type of havoc he wreaked in college.
What most people don’t know about the former Kansas City Chiefs star is that he didn’t begin playing organized football until the age of 23, as detailed in the must-watch video below.
Okoye was one of my favorite players to play as in football video games like Tecmo Bowl, because of the power and speed he ran with every time he touched the ball.
At 6-foot-1, 253 pounds, he was not your average running back.
In fact, he had the frame to play everything from defensive line to linebacker, fullback, and several other positions usually reserved for non-running back sized humans.
Okoye played six seasons in the NFL, during which he turned in one of the most exciting careers at his position in league history.
He only hit the 1,000 or more rushing yards mark twice during his time with the Chiefs, in large part because of one unexpected reason — Okoye never really loved playing the game, even when he was running through, around, and over other players at the college and NFL level.
The following are Okoye’s career stats, via ProFootballReference.com.
Okoye eventually retired because he considered football to be like a job, and decided he had better things to do with his time.
If you haven’t already, check out Okoye’s football and life story in the video below, and let us know if you have any memories of ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in the comments of this article:
