Edmund Kugbila (born September 21, 1990) is a former Ghanaian-born

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 wi ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict in ...

. He played college football at

Valdosta State Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

, and was drafted by the Panthers in the fourth round of the

2013 NFL Draft The 2013 NFL Draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall ...

Early years

Kugbila was born in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He moved to the United States at age 10, after his parents won permanent residency allowance in the "green card lottery". He attended

Central Gwinnett High School Central Gwinnett High School is a public high school in Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States. The school is operated by Gwinnett County Public Schools. Jordan Middle School and Moore Middle School are its feeders. Orchestra The Central Gwinnett ...

Lawrenceville, Georgia Lawrenceville is a city in and the county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. It is a suburb of Atlanta, located approximately northeast of downtown. As of the 2020 census, the population of Lawrenceville was 30,629. In 2019, the ...

, and played high school football for the Central Gwinnett Black Knights.

College career

While attending

Valdosta State University Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU ...

, Kugbila played for the

Valdosta State Blazers football The Valdosta State football team represents Valdosta State University in football. The Blazers are a member of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) in NCAA Division II. Valdosta State University has had a football team since 1981. The Blazers play in ...

team from 2009 to 2012.

Professional career

The

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

chose Kugbila in the fourth round, with the 108th overall pick, of the

. Kugbila suffered from a strained hamstring, and after suffering numerous setbacks, he was placed on injured reserve on August 27. After rehabbing the injury in the offseason, he injured his back. It was announced on July 24, 2014 that he would undergo back surgery and miss the entire season. On May 20, 2015, he was waived, appearing in zero games.

References

External links

Valdosta State Blazers bio
1990 births Living people People from Lawrenceville, Georgia Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Ghanaian players of American football American football offensive guards Valdosta State Blazers football players Carolina Panthers players Ghanaian emigrants to the United States {{offensive-lineman-1990s-stub