C.J. Okoye remembers his first football lesson as a then-offensive lineman at a camp in Africa.
"Don't let this guy get to this guy. This guy is the most important guy in the league. He's the quarterback," Okoye remembers being told just three years ago.
Okoye hails from Agbogugu, Nigeria, and came to America in 2023. After one season with the Los Angeles Chargers, he is now a hulking 6-foot-6, 370-pound defensive tackle for the Ravens.
Even amongst very large human beings, Okoye stands out. He's massive. But now, Okoye is standing out for more reasons. In the Ravens' preseason opener, in which he recorded three tackles and a massive quarterback hit, Okoye looked more like an NFL-ready player.
"He's really learning," Head Coach John Harbaugh said Monday. "[He's] making good use of all that size he has. He's come light-years."
Okoye, whose birth name is Basil but goes by an abbreviation of his middle name, Chijioke, grew up mostly playing basketball. He was a center in the Nigerian big leagues when he was noticed by Ejike Ugboaja, a 2006 draft pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who was scouting one of the games.
Ugboaja and a friend of Okoye's suggested that he should try out for the Uprise football camp hosted by Osi Umenyiora, a Nigerian former NFL player and two-time Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowl defensive end with the New York Giants. Okoye went to the camp and bombed the drills, but when it came to actually playing the game for the first time, he was alright.
"My coach was like, 'C.J., you did [crappy] in the drills, but when it comes to playing, you went off like you've already played this,'" Okoye remembers.
Okoye got an invite to the first NFL Africa camp held in Ghana in 2022. It was his first time actually playing football. As an offensive tackle, he was named the Offensive MVP.
He was then one of 38 players from 13 countries to participate in the NFL International Combine in London, and from there was chosen as one of 13 players in the NFL International Player Pathway Program. That meant a 10-week training camp at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he was converted to defensive line and got new instructions.
"You need to go get that guy that you think was important [the quarterback]," Okoye said. "And don't let anybody from this side of the ball go to this side of the ball. Don't let anybody run past you. Now, that's your assignment."
In May of 2023, Okoye found out he was one of eight players who made the final cuts and was allocated to the Chargers. In his first-ever organized football game, a preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, Okoye sacked quarterback Stetson Bennett, a two-time college football national champion at Georgia. Okoye didn’t even know what a sack was.
Okoye spent his first two NFL seasons on the Chargers' practice squad. The Ravens signed him to a future/reserves contract in January, and now he's trying to further develop his game playing for the other Harbaugh in Baltimore and crack a 53-man roster.
"He's really learning how to come out of his hips and strike and shed, stay square in there and play the run," Harbaugh said. "He's gotten some push in pass rush. He's going to be a pocket pusher."
Okoye has also joined a contingent of Ravens from Nigeria – defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and outside linebackers Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo. Ojabo, who was born in Nigeria, has been keeping an eye on Okoye's progress.
"That's my brother. He's come a long way," Ojabo said. "All the odds are stacked against him. He's new to the sport, kind of like how I was, but he just keeps grinding. All it is for him is confidence and knowledge. He has a 'God body' for football. He was built to play football. So, as soon as he gets that confidence up and knows the call, knows what to do, and just [gains more] knowledge of the sport, the sky's the limit, honestly."
Okoye said Defensive Line Coach Dennis Johnson has taught him how to play to his size. He may not be the twitchiest guy, but he has clear advantages. Beyond that, it's just been a natural progression of learning the game. But Okoye said his biggest strides have come by simply learning what it means to play like a Raven.
"When they say the Ravens way, I think it's just the toughness," Okoye said. "You see that every day out in the field. It's hard. We're out here kicking [butt]. We don't care about the weather. We don't care about any excuses. The Ravens way is the Ravens way. It's a standard, and I think that our standard is above the league standard. When you're below that standard, you're going to be exposed. So, I feel like I learned that coming here and there's so much competition."
Okoye nearly had a sack in his first game as a Raven Thursday night at M&T Bank Stadium. He was praying that Colts quarterback Daniel Jones would hold the ball for just a second longer or try to juke him. Instead, Jones launched his own prayer and got run over by a 370-pound wrecking ball.
When it comes to making the 53-man roster on the Ravens' stacked defensive line, the odds continue to be stacked against Okoye. However, the league allows teams to carry one extra international pathway player on their practice squad. Thus, even if he doesn't make the final cut, Okoye could continue to grow in Baltimore this season and be part of the scout team, helping to get center Tyler Linderbaum and the Ravens' offensive line ready each week.
"When I first got here, Coach Dennis said he's going to make me a [darn] good football player, and I believed it," Okoye said. "For me, that's a goal of mine to make a 53-man roster. But that's a far goal. The next goal is the next game."
