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Justin Okoronkwo is a punctual person – actually. He makes us wait a few minutes before the agreed conversation, which takes place early in the day due to the time difference. When the Zoom call finally ends, Okoronkwo smiles into the camera and says sorry: “Sorry, I just got up.”
After all, he has no training that day, and that means: “If I can sleep in, I use every minute and try to stay in bed as long as possible,” says the 21-year-old, who is one of Germany’s greatest promises for the future in football and otherwise completely awake.
Last year, Okoronkwo moved from the Nuremberg Rams, where he played for one year, to the successful college team the Alabama Crimson Tide, which reached the final of the Rose Bowl in 2024 and has already been college champion 16 times in its history.
Justin Okoronkwo from Germany dreams of the NFL
Until the beginning of the year, Nick Saban was still the head coach there, leading the college football coaching payroll with $11 million per year. “He had been the head coach since 2007. Unfortunately, due to age reasons, he resigned shortly after our first team meeting after I was in the US for just three days,” Okoronkwo said.
Many see him as an exceptional athletic talent who, with his height of 1.90 meters and weight of 103 kilograms, has the perfect prerequisites for the position of linebacker: on the one hand you have to be fast and agile, but on the other hand you also have to be powerful in order to stop the opposing attacks stop, close passing lanes and put the opponent’s quarterback under pressure.
Okoronkwo sprints the 40-yard distance in 4.61 seconds, but physicality alone is not enough: “It’s important that we know all the plays exactly and prepare for the opponent’s moves,” he says. “I’ve memorized the entire playbook. I also have a small headphone in my ear during the game through which the defensive coordinator gives us the instructions and play calls.”
Okoronkwo started out as a floor gymnast and soccer goalkeeper
He immediately caught the eye of US scouts during his time with the Nuremberg Rams. Okoronkwo only started playing football at the age of 17. A friend took the Munich native, whose father is from Nigeria and his mother from Dresden, to flag football training, where Okoronkwo immediately made an impression.
“I went to Munich Rangers for a trial training session,” says Okoronkwo. “Unfortunately, I never played a game for the Rangers because the pandemic intervened. That’s why I moved to the Fursty Razorbacks in the U19s in Fürstenfeldbruck because they were still playing.”
Before his football career, Okoronkwo had already tried out as a floor gymnast and soccer goalkeeper. But the love for football was stronger: “This sport means everything to me. I was never sure what I wanted to be in life. But now I know. My big dream is to play in the NFL someday,” says Okoronkwo. His great role models are Ray Lewis and Luke Kuechly, who were outstanding linebackers for the Baltimore Ravens and the Carolina Panthers during their playing days in the NFL. He wants to be part of the NFL draft in 2027 or 2028. “After three years of college, you can declare for the draft,” he says.
Okoronkwo doesn’t feel any pain in Alabama
Okoronkwo, who completed his high school diploma in international economics at the Therese von Bayern School in Munich and is now studying business administration in the field of general business in the USA, does not feel homesick. “My mother and father may come to a game this season. Otherwise, I’m pretty much on my own here. It was a little difficult at the beginning, but I settled in very quickly,” says Okoronkwo, who speaks Spanish as well as English speaks French.
When he’s free, he likes to cook lasagna for his friends at college. “Otherwise, I like to play the piano, spend time on the Playstation or go fishing,” says Okoronkwo. And not to forget his favorite hobby: sleeping in.
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