Las Vegas Raiders' David Agoha recalls 'surreal' experience of getting first-ever NFL sack

Las Vegas Raiders' David Agoha, who sent the sidelines into wild celebration with an eight-yard preseason sack on Los Angeles Rams' Brett Rypien, says he was born to be a defensive end.

Agoha, who has only played in three American football games, at any level, in his whole life, grew up playing all sorts of sports in Lagos, Nigeria, before being discovered by New York Giants legend Osi Umenyiora's Uprise camp.

He is on the Raiders' practice squad now, having been allocated to the team by the International Player Pathway programme, but he made an impression in preseason and says that while blocking remains his area of improvement, the rest of the game has come pretty easily to him.

Agoha told ESPN: "I feel like the position I play, I was born for it. It came very easy for me, to be honest. This past year, all that came relatively easy, because I played basketball, I did boxing, so I had good footwork, so it was just basically the same thing.

"I feel like the place I struggled the most was just learning how to block; getting a 300-pound man and you have to block him. That's the only place I had problems with."

Recounting the thrilling experience of getting his first-ever sack, Agoha said: "It was such a surreal moment, because I didn't expect to get a sack.

"They put me in the fourth quarter and I was just like: 'Ok. I'll just ride out the game.' I was still putting in my best because I played a lot of special teams before that and [I was thinking]: 'Ok. I'll just show them what I can do.'

"I was so excited; I was just screaming. If you see the pictures and videos of it, I was screaming: 'Let's go! Let's go!'

"I was just excited and I've dreamed about that moment since I started football... When it happened, I was just like: 'Damn. I really got a sack!' I was just shocked.

"After that, they called me out - the head coach (Josh McDaniels). I got the game ball and all of that... It was a surreal moment, because I got my first game ball."

When asked what his next goals are, Agoha said: "Get better, stronger, faster, and next year, make the team. I can still get activated to play during the season from the practice squad, so I'm going to stay ready.

"If my team needs me, I'm going to step in to do my best."

Apart from Agoha, his home town of Festac has produced Tennessee Volunteers tight end Emmanuel Okoye, fellow NFL Academy prospect Clinton Azubuike, and Louisville basketball forward Emmanuel Okorafor.

Elaborating on his short journey into American football, via basketball and boxing, Agoha recalled: "I grew up playing soccer. I did a lot of sports. I did a little bit of boxing, basketball.

"I went pro in basketball before I got the chance to meet Educational Basketball and they introduced me to football and that's where everything started for me.

"I'd say American football had the biggest opening for me to go pro and make a big impact, so that's why I really stuck with it and put my all into it."

Agoha went to the NFL Africa Touchdown camp in Ghana last year, where the cream of the crop from Uprise battled for a place in the NFL International Combine to make it to the IPP Program. Agoha, however, was unable to attend the combine in London due to issues with his passport.

Olutobi Adepitan, one of the two brothers running Educational Basketball, told ESPN: "When we told him he wouldn't be going, he did not take it well. He thought it was over. He even said he was going to go off grid and join the marines but little did he know that his impression from the NFL Africa Camp left an indelible mark."

Adepitan described Agoha as, "coachable, always eager to get better."

He recalled: "He would stay behind after workouts and put in extra work. An awesome team guy. When it's time to relax, he relaxes. When it's time to have fun, he enjoys [himself], but when it's time to work, David locks all the way in."