Denzel-Ray N. Nkemdiche (born February 15, 1993) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

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 ...

. He attended and played for the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

High school career

A native of

Loganville, Georgia Loganville is a city in Walton and Gwinnett counties, Georgia, United States. The population was 10,458 at the 2010 census. Loganville is located about east of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. History An early variant name w ...

, Nkemdiche attended

Grayson High School Grayson High School is located in Loganville, Georgia and has an enrollment of over 3,100 students. The school pulls students from many areas of southeastern Gwinnett County, mainly Grayson, Loganville, and Lawrenceville. General information ...

, where he played for the Grayson High School Rams

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. As a senior, he helped lead the team to a 10–4 record by recording 101 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, eight sacks, and three interception returns for touchdowns. He was projected to move to the secondary in college, but lacked elite speed, which is why he was only rated as a two-star recruit and not ranked among the nation's top prospects.

College career

Nkemdiche chose to attend Ole Miss over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and redshirted his first year in

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

. In the 2012 season, he led the team with 82 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, and three interceptions. He was named second-team All-SEC by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and to the SEC All-Freshman team. On October 25, 2014, Nkemdiche broke his ankle against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. During the 2015 season, he was released from the football team.

Personal life

Nkemdiche was born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

to Nigerian immigrants Beverly and Sunday Nkemdiche. His father, a

cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular hear ...

, has reportedly applied for a researcher position at

University of Mississippi Medical Center University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is the health sciences campus of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and is located in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. UMMC, also referred to as the Medical Center, is the state's only aca ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

. Nkemdiche's mother, a politician, returned to Nigeria in 2009 and currently represents

Onitsha South Onitsha South is a Local Government Area in South Central Senatorial zone of Anambra State, Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of N ...

in the

Anambra State House of Assembly 'Anambra State House of Assembly'' is the Legislative Branch of the Anambra State Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by De ...

. His younger brother,

Robert Nkemdiche Robert Chukwudumebi Nkemdiche ( ; born September 19, 1994) is an American football defensive tackle for the Michigan Panthers (2022), Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (2022), United States Football League (USFL). He attende ...

, played

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

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 ...

.And His Eldest Brother Bryan Nkemdiche makes music and has a fashion brand called Timeless Generation and goes by the alias Barry Sinclai
Denzel Nkemdiche Profile – OLEMISSSPORTS.COM – OLE MISS Official Athletic Site
. Olemisssports.Com. Retrieved on September 4, 2012.

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nkemdiche, Denzel 1993 births Living people American sportspeople of Nigerian descent People from Loganville, Georgia Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football linebackers Ole Miss Rebels football players