<\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa, front, takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa, front, takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \u2018Freakish numbers\u2019<\/p>\n Giwa \u2014 pronounced with a hard G \u2014 heard about Brandon Collier through a friend familiar with the American\u2019s track record<\/a> of finding, training and placing international kids at U.S. college football programs. Collier, an American who played defensive line at UMass, runs PPI Recruits out of Germany.<\/p>\n Collier had Giwa visit him for a workout and immediately envisioned him protecting quarterbacks.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can create a tackle in a laboratory, this is what you want him to look like,\u201d Collier told the AP.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just his size, though. Collier clocked Giwa at 4.88 seconds in the 40-yard dash and measured his broad jump at 9 feet, 10 inches \u2014 \u201cpretty freakish numbers,\u201d Collier noted.<\/p>\n \u201cThen he has the toughness,\u201d he added. \u201cYou can have all these measurements, but if you\u2019re not tough mentally and physically then you probably won\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n Collier was bringing his latest group of recruits on campus tours earlier this month and decided to add Giwa \u2014 mostly just to introduce him to the process.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have expectations,\u201d Giwa told the AP before Sunday\u2019s announcement. \u201cIt was just to see what was out there, basically, and what to work towards.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThings kind of picked up.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Here come the offers<\/p>\n Not long after touching down in the U.S., Collier detoured to Toronto to check out another touted prospect. Giwa joined him.<\/p>\n \u201cI had them do some pass sets and some one-on-ones with some kids, he looked phenomenal,\u201d Collier said of Giwa.<\/p>\n So he instructed Giwa to immediately create an X account so colleges could learn more about him. Collier then posted a couple of videos \u201cand it went viral from there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMiami, they messaged me literally 60 seconds after I posted it,\u201d Collier said. \u201cThe head coach (Mario Cristobal) wrote me a message \u2014 \u2018get him to Miami.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Like actually one minute?<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally 60 seconds, man,\u201d Collier said. \u201cThe power of networking and social media. People know what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Giwa didn\u2019t talk to Belichick<\/p>\n North Carolina would have been an intriguing choice not only to play for iconic coach Bill Belichick<\/a> but also because the Tar Heels play their 2026 opener against TCU at Aviva Stadium in Dublin<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to him personally,\u201d Giwa said of Belichick.<\/p>\n Playing in his country someday would be great: \u201cI was born in Ireland, and I was raised in Ireland. It definitely would be cool and a bit of an honor to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lots of international talent<\/p>\n Marvin Nguetsop, a German defensive end who is doing a year of prep school in Connecticut, was considered the top recruit on Collier\u2019s recent tour. He got offers from Ohio State and Michigan.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of the kids had offers on the tour, too,\u201d Collier said. \u201cTennessee offered five or six of the kids on one day.\u201d<\/p>\n Giwa is not the first of Collier\u2019s recruits to get offers despite no football experience. Hero Kanu<\/a> received an offer from Penn State without ever playing the sport. The defensive lineman ultimately chose Ohio State. He now plays at Texas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa wears South Carolina \u2018Gamecocks\u201d gloves as he takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Oluwanifemi \u2018Neff\u2019 Giwa wears South Carolina \u2018Gamecocks\u201d gloves as he takes part in a football workout session at the National Sports Center, Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alastair Grant)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Giwa is a small-town kid<\/p>\n Giwa grew up in Cashel, a town in County Tipperary with a population under 5,000.<\/p>\n His mother is a nurse and his father is a physiotherapist. Giwa, who has three older siblings, said they were the first Nigerian family to move into town and that local residents \u201cdefinitely made us feel welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n What does he tell everyone about college football and the facilities he\u2019s visited?<\/p>\n \u201cI tell them it\u2019s a different world over there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Rugby, soccer, hurling and Gaelic football<\/a> are the local sports.<\/p>\n Giwa likes that American football allows him to use his size. He sees a rugby-to-football template in Jordan Mailata<\/a>, a 6-foot-8 Australian who plays offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n Name, image and likeness deals allow college athletes, even international ones if done correctly<\/a>, to earn big money.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does make you think about possibilities and choices and how you can help others. (But) it\u2019s more just making your family proud,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Giwa credits Collier with creating life-changing opportunities. He\u2019s not sure what he\u2019d be doing otherwise.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d just be a regular guy,\u201d he said with a laugh, \u201cdoing what 90% of the world is doing, just trying to make a living. That\u2019s why I\u2019m so grateful because I\u2019m able to do something that I really love now.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a> and here<\/a> (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-football-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-football<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Neff Giwa sometimes asks himself: \u201cIs this really happening to me?\u201d Incredibly, yes. The 20-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[7025,245938,1607,2662,2822,2808,399,36487,27121,245939,13018,3508,398,396,397,2256,1776,1081,8643,11004,5614,1782,6168,6163,99,2219],"class_list":["post-553231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-bill-belichick","tag-brandon-collier","tag-college-football","tag-college-sports","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-football","tag-jordan-mailata","tag-mario-cristobal","tag-marvin-nguetsop","tag-massachusetts-minutemen","tag-nc-state-wire","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-north-carolina","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","tag-rugby","tag-sc-state-wire","tag-shane-beamer","tag-south-carolina","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks-football","tag-southeastern-conference","tag-sports","tag-tennessee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Oluwanifemi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774829413_141_.jpeg\")
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