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Rock Strongo
My mind spits with an enormous kickback.
If you're under 40, you probably have no idea who he is. god, was he fun to watch.
Nigerian Nightmare: The legend lives on, 30 years later
Nigerian Nightmare: The legend lives on, 30 years later
Bigger than a linebacker, and with the speed of a man 50 pounds lighter, Christian Okoye was the last thing defensive backs wanted to see coming directly at them. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
7:55 AM ET
Mike SandoESPN Senior Writer
These weren't quite the NFL's dark ages, but believing in legends was easier back in 1987 than it would be in today's world of comprehensive coverage.
TV viewers were just beginning to see live scores for out-of-market NFL games with the unveiling of a "10 Minute Ticker" on NBC. Fans seeking to learn more about players could hope for a feature story to appear in newspapers, magazines or on TV. Another eight years would pass before ESPN.com arrived. NFL RedZone was 22 years away.
By the time Christian Okoye made his way from the discus rings of Enugu, Nigera, to the backfield at Azusa Pacific University and onto the NFL's radar as a physically dynamic curiosity with only two years of football experience, he might as well have been 10 feet tall instead of his listed 6-foot-1. A 260-pound prodigy with 4.45-second speed in the 40-yard dash and Olympic-caliber credentials in the discus, Okoye would become the Nigerian Nightmare.
How Christian Okoye is still making an impact
When Christian Okoye burst onto the NFL scene, he wasn't thinking about blazing trails -- he was too busy running over would-be tacklers. Thirty years later, he's considered "the godfather" for football players with Nigerian roots.
"Back then, we relied on legends," former Broncos and Seahawks linebacker Dave Wyman said. "When we played Marcus Dupree in college, you couldn't really see highlights of him unless you watched the game film. You heard all these stories about how he was like a pro football player playing high school football. Okoye fell into that category where the legend around the NFL sort of built around him. You remember how it was described to you -- even his nickname, the Nigerian Nightmare -- and there was exaggeration."
The truth would have sufficed.
A 1987 Sports Illustrated story noted that Okoye threw the discus 212 feet, 4 inches, which would have placed seventh in the 1988 Olympics. He long-jumped 23 feet, 10 inches, which would have placed 20th at the 2017 NCAA outdoor meet. Okoye, sporting a 34-inch waist and 28-inch thighs, squatted 725 pounds, benched 405 and power-cleaned 395 before stepping into an NFL weight room for the first time as a second-round choice.
Thirty years after Okoye flashed onto the NFL scene, his legend endures among those old enough to remember. Okoye rushed for 4,897 yards and 40 touchdowns over six seasons for Marty Schottenheimer's ball-control Kansas City Chiefs, producing one spectacular season and a few good ones before his body, indestructible as it appeared when equipped with shoulder pads on loan from a Transformers action figure, could withstand no more.
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Deron Cherry: 'Christian, step on the scale'
Cherry was a 1980s All-Decade Second Team free safety with six Pro Bowls, three All-Pro selections and 50 interceptions from 1981 to '91. In the 14 starts he made against Denver, the Chiefs limited John Elway to nine touchdown passes with 24 interceptions.
"Back in the day, everyone started talking about big 300-pound linemen. Christian was sitting there in the locker room right before a game one day and I was like, 'Christian, step on the scale.' We had one of those big scales. He's got his helmet, shoulder pads, everything. He steps on the scale and the dude was 300 frickin' pounds! And I said, 'You gotta be kidding me.'
"They get into the fourth quarter or late in the third quarter and Marty is just handing him the ball. These linebackers are getting pounded by these legitimate 300-pound linemen who are probably weighing 340, 350 with all their pads and equipment on, and then you got a 300-pound running back running 4.45 in the 40 coming through and hitting you right behind them. By the fourth quarter, they don't even want to tackle him anymore."
Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was the Chiefs' running backs coach from 1989 to '92, a period for which Okoye ranked fifth in rushing yards and third in rushing touchdowns behind Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. It didn't take Arians long to figure out how much football Okoye had to learn -- or how devastating Okoye could be.
"We were having a meeting and we had rules for 3-4 and a 4-3 [defensive alignments] -- these were your passing assignments, who you blocked on pass plays. Christian waited 'til everybody left and he said, 'Coach, what is a 4-3 and a 3-4?' Great question, dude. Good thing you asked! That happened real early with us together. Then I knew what I had to do to teach and make sure he was ready. No one studied it harder. What a joy he was to coach.
"I think it might have been Ronnie Lott who got him pretty good on a cutback and we said, 'We are going to run that again, he is going to fill that same hole and you have to drop your shoulder on him.' And we had old, hard AstroTurf in Kansas City at the time. Christian bounced Ronnie off that AstroTurf and our whole sideline was, Ooooooh. They loved watching him run."
Lloyd Burruss: 'It was beautiful'
Burruss started 103 games for the Chiefs as a strong safety from 1981 to '91, earning Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors in 1986, when he picked off future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts three times in one quarter, returning two of them for touchdowns during a wild 42-41 victory.
"Christian and Barry Word, they were something. They were a blessing to us on defense. In the NFL, all those games come down to the wire, and it was just great to be able to sit on the bench and watch your two big boys and that offense just run the clock out, first down after first down. It was beautiful. I chewed tobacco at that time. When we would run that four-minute offense, I would always put a pinch in, knowing we wouldn't have to go back on the field.
"There was a psychological effect on defenses -- even the Raiders, which was our super rival. Marty Schottenheimer couldn't stand the Raiders. We just game-planned it that way and said, 'Look, we are going to get that ball at the end of the game and we are going to run it, make them jump offsides, things like that.' Really, after three quarters and heading into the fourth, I think guys were very wary of having to tackle that guy, mentally and physically."
John Elway: 'That is the best hit I've ever seen in my life'
Okoye's upright running style meant he could be vulnerable to taking big hits, not just dishing them out. The one he took from Broncos safety Steve Atwater during a Monday Night Football matchup in 1990 season became one of the more iconic hits in league history, simply because it was so shocking to see anyone rock Okoye.
"You are talking about a guy that was 260 pounds and he was a monster -- big. Back in those days, everyone looked bigger because we actually wore shoulder pads, right? Nobody wears shoulder pads anymore. So, he even looked bigger. I always loved Steve Atwater and I thought he was a great player, but when I saw him come up and knock the dog out of him, I absolutely say that is the best hit I've ever seen in my life. To have a guy come up and lay out his body knowing he is going to hit a 260-pounder that was just rolling. ... That is what I remember."
The 6-foot-1, 260-pound Christian Okoye made a habit of carrying defenders for a few yards before finally going to the ground. Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images
Nigerian Nightmare: The legend lives on, 30 years later
Nigerian Nightmare: The legend lives on, 30 years later
Bigger than a linebacker, and with the speed of a man 50 pounds lighter, Christian Okoye was the last thing defensive backs wanted to see coming directly at them. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
7:55 AM ET
Mike SandoESPN Senior Writer
These weren't quite the NFL's dark ages, but believing in legends was easier back in 1987 than it would be in today's world of comprehensive coverage.
TV viewers were just beginning to see live scores for out-of-market NFL games with the unveiling of a "10 Minute Ticker" on NBC. Fans seeking to learn more about players could hope for a feature story to appear in newspapers, magazines or on TV. Another eight years would pass before ESPN.com arrived. NFL RedZone was 22 years away.
By the time Christian Okoye made his way from the discus rings of Enugu, Nigera, to the backfield at Azusa Pacific University and onto the NFL's radar as a physically dynamic curiosity with only two years of football experience, he might as well have been 10 feet tall instead of his listed 6-foot-1. A 260-pound prodigy with 4.45-second speed in the 40-yard dash and Olympic-caliber credentials in the discus, Okoye would become the Nigerian Nightmare.
How Christian Okoye is still making an impact
When Christian Okoye burst onto the NFL scene, he wasn't thinking about blazing trails -- he was too busy running over would-be tacklers. Thirty years later, he's considered "the godfather" for football players with Nigerian roots.
"Back then, we relied on legends," former Broncos and Seahawks linebacker Dave Wyman said. "When we played Marcus Dupree in college, you couldn't really see highlights of him unless you watched the game film. You heard all these stories about how he was like a pro football player playing high school football. Okoye fell into that category where the legend around the NFL sort of built around him. You remember how it was described to you -- even his nickname, the Nigerian Nightmare -- and there was exaggeration."
The truth would have sufficed.
A 1987 Sports Illustrated story noted that Okoye threw the discus 212 feet, 4 inches, which would have placed seventh in the 1988 Olympics. He long-jumped 23 feet, 10 inches, which would have placed 20th at the 2017 NCAA outdoor meet. Okoye, sporting a 34-inch waist and 28-inch thighs, squatted 725 pounds, benched 405 and power-cleaned 395 before stepping into an NFL weight room for the first time as a second-round choice.
Thirty years after Okoye flashed onto the NFL scene, his legend endures among those old enough to remember. Okoye rushed for 4,897 yards and 40 touchdowns over six seasons for Marty Schottenheimer's ball-control Kansas City Chiefs, producing one spectacular season and a few good ones before his body, indestructible as it appeared when equipped with shoulder pads on loan from a Transformers action figure, could withstand no more.
ADVERTISEMENT
Deron Cherry: 'Christian, step on the scale'
Cherry was a 1980s All-Decade Second Team free safety with six Pro Bowls, three All-Pro selections and 50 interceptions from 1981 to '91. In the 14 starts he made against Denver, the Chiefs limited John Elway to nine touchdown passes with 24 interceptions.
"Back in the day, everyone started talking about big 300-pound linemen. Christian was sitting there in the locker room right before a game one day and I was like, 'Christian, step on the scale.' We had one of those big scales. He's got his helmet, shoulder pads, everything. He steps on the scale and the dude was 300 frickin' pounds! And I said, 'You gotta be kidding me.'
"They get into the fourth quarter or late in the third quarter and Marty is just handing him the ball. These linebackers are getting pounded by these legitimate 300-pound linemen who are probably weighing 340, 350 with all their pads and equipment on, and then you got a 300-pound running back running 4.45 in the 40 coming through and hitting you right behind them. By the fourth quarter, they don't even want to tackle him anymore."
Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was the Chiefs' running backs coach from 1989 to '92, a period for which Okoye ranked fifth in rushing yards and third in rushing touchdowns behind Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. It didn't take Arians long to figure out how much football Okoye had to learn -- or how devastating Okoye could be.
"We were having a meeting and we had rules for 3-4 and a 4-3 [defensive alignments] -- these were your passing assignments, who you blocked on pass plays. Christian waited 'til everybody left and he said, 'Coach, what is a 4-3 and a 3-4?' Great question, dude. Good thing you asked! That happened real early with us together. Then I knew what I had to do to teach and make sure he was ready. No one studied it harder. What a joy he was to coach.
"I think it might have been Ronnie Lott who got him pretty good on a cutback and we said, 'We are going to run that again, he is going to fill that same hole and you have to drop your shoulder on him.' And we had old, hard AstroTurf in Kansas City at the time. Christian bounced Ronnie off that AstroTurf and our whole sideline was, Ooooooh. They loved watching him run."
Lloyd Burruss: 'It was beautiful'
Burruss started 103 games for the Chiefs as a strong safety from 1981 to '91, earning Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors in 1986, when he picked off future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts three times in one quarter, returning two of them for touchdowns during a wild 42-41 victory.
"Christian and Barry Word, they were something. They were a blessing to us on defense. In the NFL, all those games come down to the wire, and it was just great to be able to sit on the bench and watch your two big boys and that offense just run the clock out, first down after first down. It was beautiful. I chewed tobacco at that time. When we would run that four-minute offense, I would always put a pinch in, knowing we wouldn't have to go back on the field.
"There was a psychological effect on defenses -- even the Raiders, which was our super rival. Marty Schottenheimer couldn't stand the Raiders. We just game-planned it that way and said, 'Look, we are going to get that ball at the end of the game and we are going to run it, make them jump offsides, things like that.' Really, after three quarters and heading into the fourth, I think guys were very wary of having to tackle that guy, mentally and physically."
John Elway: 'That is the best hit I've ever seen in my life'
Okoye's upright running style meant he could be vulnerable to taking big hits, not just dishing them out. The one he took from Broncos safety Steve Atwater during a Monday Night Football matchup in 1990 season became one of the more iconic hits in league history, simply because it was so shocking to see anyone rock Okoye.
"You are talking about a guy that was 260 pounds and he was a monster -- big. Back in those days, everyone looked bigger because we actually wore shoulder pads, right? Nobody wears shoulder pads anymore. So, he even looked bigger. I always loved Steve Atwater and I thought he was a great player, but when I saw him come up and knock the dog out of him, I absolutely say that is the best hit I've ever seen in my life. To have a guy come up and lay out his body knowing he is going to hit a 260-pounder that was just rolling. ... That is what I remember."
The 6-foot-1, 260-pound Christian Okoye made a habit of carrying defenders for a few yards before finally going to the ground. Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images
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