Amen Ogbongbemiga (pronounced AY-men awg-BONG-beh-MEE-guh; born September 4, 1998) is a Nigerian

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

Early life and high school career

Amen Ogbongbemiga was born on September 4, 1998, in

Lagos, Nigeria Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

. His family moved to

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, in 2003 and to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

in 2011. He went to high school at Notre Dame in Calgary before moving back to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In his junior year of high school he recorded 104 tackles, three sacks, 13 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, and two recoveries. Ogbongbemiga amassed 110 tackles, 15 for loss, four sacks, five forced fumbles and three recoveries. He was named first-team all-district and team MVP his senior year. He helped his team achieve 37 consecutive victories, near the all-time Canadian record. He was thrice an Academic Honor Roll selection. He also competed in track & field at Notre Dame.

College career

He attended college at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

from 2016 to 2021. He sat out his true freshman season as a redshirt. He was named first-team academic all-Big 12 after his freshman season, posting 16 tackles and 13 solo stops while playing in 12 games. His best game came against

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, where he recorded a season-high five tackles. He was credited with tackles for loss in games against

South Alabama South Alabama is the various parts of southern Alabama. Although it is not a strictly defined geographic region, it generally includes all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt. In that view, ''South Alabama'' consists of just the two counties ...

and Baylor. He also was credited with one quarterback hurry during the season Ogbongbemiga played in all 13 games as a sophomore, logging 12 tackles, three for loss, 1.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery. Against rival

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

he recorded a sack of

Kyler Murray Kyler Cole Murray (born August 7, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M, Murray played college football at University of Okl ...

, and a season-high three tackles. He matched that statistic against South Alabama as well. He was named team captain during both the Oklahoma, and South Alabama games. He had an important blocked punt in an Oklahoma State win over

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

. He also led all Oklahoma State special teams players with six tackles. He was awarded the OSU Outstanding Special Teams Player award as well as named first-team academic all-Big 12 following the season. He was voted team captain for the 2019 season and performed well, finishing the season ranked sixth in the Big 12 with 100 tackles. He led the team with 15.5 tackles for loss and 5 sacks. Against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, he recorded a season-high 12 tackles, also amassing a sack and fumble recovery in the annual

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced ...

. He also recorded his first career interception late in a win over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. In games against Texas and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

he recorded 11 tackles, also recording 10 in a game against

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. He was team captain in games against Oklahoma, Baylor, and

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He ended the season gaining Second-team All-Big 12 and First-team Academic All-Big 12 honors, as well as the

Leslie O'Neal Leslie Claudis O'Neal (born May 7, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end and outside linebacker for 13 years in the National Football League (NFL). He spent the majority of his career with the San Diego ...

award, for the best defensive player on the team. He remained the team captain for his senior season, leading OSU in tackles in six of its eleven games. He was a semifinalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, an honorable mention for defensive player of the year, a First-team All-Academic selection for the fourth straight year, and a Second-team All-Big 12 selection for the second consecutive year. He started every game and was the game captain in games against

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, Oklahoma, Baylor, and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. He finished the season with 81 tackles, only one shy of their 2020 leader Malcolm Rodriguez. He led the Cowboys in tackles in the games against West Virginia (13), Kansas (5), Texas (10), Kansas State (8), Texas Tech (11), and TCU (12). His 13 tackles against West Virginia were a career-high. He also recorded 2.5 sacks and three quarterback hurries during the season. In the game against TCU, he had three forced fumbles in under 19 minutes, only one shy of the NCAA's single game record. He was named Big 12 Player of the Week following the game. He chose to forgo remaining eligibility and instead declare for the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

, Ogbongbemiga signed as an undrafted free agent with the

. Three days later, he was selected with the 8th overall pick in the

2021 CFL Draft The 2021 CFL National Draft was a selection of National players by Canadian Football League teams that took place at May 4, 2021 at 7:00 pm ET and was broadcast on TSN and RDS. 54 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadia ...

by the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

. He made the final roster as a rookie and appeared in 15 games, recording 26 tackles.

Personal life

His brother,

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...

, played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL).

References

External links

*
Oklahoma State Cowboys football bioLos Angeles Chargers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogbongbemiga, Amen 1998 births Living people Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Los Angeles Chargers players American football linebackers Sportspeople from Lagos Players of American football from Houston Nigerian players of American football Nigerian emigrants to the United States