Saints welcome in rookie who took up football just five years ago

Rookie David Onyemata has traveled from Nigeria to New Orleans by way of Canada, and he’s only a few short months from his first game in the NFL. Not bad for a guy who hadn’t even seen a football five years ago.

Onyemata, a defensive tackle out of noted football hotbed the University of Manitoba, was drafted in the fourth round by the Saints, 120th overall, in a move widely seen as a decent gamble. He’d grown up in Nigeria and only took up football when arriving at Manitoba. The last Canadian player drafted this high was Akiem Hick of Regina, also by New Orleans in 2012.

Fans in both Canada and Nigeria are following his progress, which took another step upward this week with Onyemata’s debut in the Saints’ rookie minicamp. Onyemata has had to adjust both to a new position, defensive end, and slightly new rules; Canadian football has a one-yard setback for the defense.

“There is a big difference,” he said. “We have like an extra guy and 1 yard off the ball, but I’m still learning. It’s all a learning process to understand every single thing that’s going on out there. So I’m just taking it a day at a time.”

As ESPN.com noted, one of the trickiest elements of Onyemata’s transition has been the climate of New Orleans, which is just slightly warmer and more humid than that of Canada. After a rough early stint, Onyemata rallied, and Saints head coach Sean Payton laughed that Onyemata did have to come from farther north than any other player on the New Orleans roster.

“He’s raw, and everybody knows he’s raw,” Saints defensive line coach Bill Johnson said. “But he’s a guy that checked out as far as his character, he’s willing to work, and we really tested him as far as learning was concerned. He was the type of guy that picked up things, he understood concepts. So here we are.”

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.