Life, football and the pursuit of happyness

“Ain’t no game, I’m taking all you have…”

6 feet 2 inches.

“…and you’re gonna pay for it…”

295 pounds.

“…I don’t know if I can stop myself…”

Number 77 on the field.

“…and you’re gonna pay for it…”

The bright lights glare onto the field as the roar of the rowdy crowd starts to grow.

“…Oh, you’ll never learn…”

Inside it’s quiet. No messing around, no joking around. And although there is not a “no talking” rule, a silent agreement stretches through the field house as each player gets in their zone.

“…I touch fire, little burn…”

In the corner he sits. Focused on the music, letting the lyrics seep into him giving him motivation.

“…this ain’t no game, I’m taking all you have…”

And then it’s just tunnel vision to the game.  

“…And you’re gonna pay for it.”

“I started football when I was in sixth grade,” senior Denzel Okafor said. “And I didn’t really like it because it was hard work, and I had the coach yelling at me all the time and I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

And now, as one of the senior captains, offensive lineman Okafor can’t get enough.

“Running through the tunnel is the best thing ever,” Okafor said. “Because that’s when the adrenaline comes, and then you run and you hear the crowd and you see the enemy team and you just get so pumped up. It’s an amazing feeling.”

Along with 20 college offers he received, he has the opportunity to play in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl Game this upcoming January; it’s the “nation’s premiere high school football camp series & bowl game presented by the US Marine Corps.”

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Okafor said. “Some guy from ESPN got me on Twitter and was just like ‘Hey, you wanna play in this All-American Game?’ and I said ‘Of course I do!’ I was amazed and I put a tweet that night [saying] ‘I don’t know why God keeps blessing me’ because I feel like I have a lot of blessings.”

And blessings indeed he does have. Being named homecoming king and leading the team to victory on his last homecoming game, everyone has nothing but good things to say about Okafor.

“He’s always happy,” senior quarterback Aubreion Bobb said. “You’re happy to see Denzel when you see Denzel. He’s always like ‘How’s it going, how’s your day?’ he cares about everybody … like we’ll just be walking in the hallway and he talks to everybody he sees.”

Okafor’s coach, Heath Naragon, says that for his position he’s very athletic and has long extremities.

“He’s very strong at the point of attack,” Naragon said. “He doesn’t get beat with speed, doesn’t get beat with power by defense, so really all around he’s developed well and he has the physical tools and also he’s a very smart player. He’s able to handle the game mentally as well as physically.”

And it’s not just on the field where Okafor impresses.

“I would describe him as, first and foremost, very kind to everyone,” StuCo adviser Allison Stamey said.

Stamey has known Okafor since his sophomore year and says that he is a high moraled young man who represents himself very well.

“He doesn’t follow the crowd, so he’s a leader,” Stamey said. “He’s good with all ages. I could go on and on. This is other than being talented on the football field. He’s just a very well loved young man.”

And when asked about his good-nature, it is easy to see why everyone loves him.

“People do say I’m nice sometimes,” Okafor said.  “I try not to be a mean guy. I don’t know if I’m mean or not; I hope not. A lot of people say I’m a good guy and that’s just all I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to be a role model for others. That’s just who I am.”

In contrast to how he plays on the field, it’s this gentle giant persona that makes him even more terrifying to those who have to go up against him on the football field…something that would not be a very pleasant situation.

“Denzel is big,” Bobb said. “He’s intimidating. I would be very intimidated.”

Despite his intimidation, Okafor finds inspiration in profound places such as in the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

“That line that he told to his son, and he said ‘You want something, go and get it, period,’ that’s it,” Okafor said. “If you want something go get it. There is no one to stop you, and if you think there’s someone to stop you, that’s just you stopping yourself.”

And from an unlikely source.

“And Shia LaBeouf,” Okafor said, referring to LaBeouf’s “Just Do It” video. “Honestly, that one too cause it’s funny but it’s so true if you really listen to it. If you just really listen to it, and really have your mindset to that ‘Just do it,’ just do it, yeah.”

That goofy persona that allows him to see the seriousness in the “Just Do It”  video is what has everyone sharing nothing but funny stories about him in the football world…

“One time when they were freshmen he was very young I was getting onto him,” Naragon said. “I didn’t think they were playing very hard and we were watching film, and I thought they could do a lot better and in kind of a whiny he voice he told me that that was the best they could do. So I always make fun of him for that.”

At school…

“It was like the first week of school when we weren’t mentoring yet,” senior StuCo president Kayla Connor said. “We’re all sitting here going over the class rules and he’s sitting in a chair in the back and he fell asleep. He tilted his head back so his mouth was hanging wide open and Savannah gets a stick of gum and just places it in his mouth. He kinda starts chewing and then he wakes up.”

And out of it.

“Denzel is scared of everything,” Bobb said. “One day at work, there is a freezer and you open the freezer door and you go in, so I was standing behind the freezer so I come out and scream ‘Ahh! Denzel!’ and he screamed like a girl. It was the funniest thing he’s ever done because he’s so big and you wouldn’t think he’s scared of anything.”

Naragon says that he is always giving Okafor advice on the football field and out of it, but that his biggest advice to him would be to take the chances that are given to him.

“That’s the name of the game,” Naragon said. “To take advantage of the opportunities that you’re given, and I think he’ll do that.”

Okafor recently committed to the University of Texas at Austin, after mulling over UT and TCU.

“I’m thankful,” Okafor said. “All the work I’ve put in; the way I’ve progressed. It’s amazing. I try to stay humble and stay hard working cause I’m trying to put an example for the people below me who want offers too so I’m showing them what they need to do.”