When George Nyakwol ’21 steps onto the field at Rice Stadium, it’s a far cry from the soccer field his family used to play on in Sudan.
“As a kid growing up, I was really big on soccer,” he said. “My father played soccer, my mother played soccer, and American football is foreign concept to say the least to South Sudanese.”
After his family migrated to the Houston area, Nyakwol discovered football as a middle school student.
“I got into football as a kid seeing kids playing in the street and throwing around this funny shaped ball,” he said. “And I went out one day and just started throwing the ball around and it wasn't very pretty at first, but after a while I got the hang of it.”
The kinesiology major has more than gotten the hang of football. Nyakwol was honored with Rice’s Jess Neely Defense Award in 2019 and was on the Phil Steele All-Conference USA preseason third team in 2020.
“My competitive mindset on the field is just to do my job, but I feel like a superhero playing American football being a South Sudanese young man,” he said. “It's really a blessing that I don't plan on taking for granted and I’ve really enjoyed this journey.”