Adeniyi: 'I love her' - Steelers.com

Football became a passion for Adeniyi. And he too saw where it could take him, especially watching the path Emmanuel Ogbah, a defensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns, took. Ogbah also came from Nigeria to Texas, and went on to play at Oklahoma State before making it in the NFL.

“We grew up in the same neighborhood,” said Adeniyi. “We went to the same high school. We played football in the streets. When he went to Oklahoma State for football I sat down and thought this is something I can do. We come from the same culture. I thought I can do what he is doing.”

He wasn’t heavily recruited because of his lack of experience, but he did get some offers, including one to the University of Toledo. And that eventually propelled him into signing with the Steelers as an undrafted rookie free agent last year. He knows if it wasn’t for his mother, who is a nurse, that neither he nor his brother Olamide, who is in grad school at Yale, would be where they are today.

“We knew everything she did, it was for us,” said Adeniyi. “She only probably made one of my games in high school. And only one game a year in Toledo. She didn’t have time off. She always worked. We never bugged her about it because we knew she was doing it for us. That is why I am doing this now, to make sure she doesn’t have to keep doing that. She always has had to work to take care of us.

“She still doesn’t know anything about football. That transition for her, that was never a part of her life until one of her sons started playing. She knows about soccer because that is what we grew up on in Nigeria.

“Being raised by a single mother, a strong single mother, was one of the best things that happened to me. She didn’t want me playing football at first. She finally said go for it. She supported me. She made me the man I am today. She is a strong independent woman. We are similar in that way. I have so much respect for her. I love her. She raised my brother and I well.”

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