By Scott McCabe
Get to know one of the most exciting National Football League [NFL] prospects that Ireland has ever produced.
Lopez Sanusi was born in Dublin, Ireland. As a child, he experienced life in Nigeria and the United States before his family settled down in Belfast when Lopez was 17 years old.
During his time in the United States, Lopez loved nothing more than playing one particular game with his friends at recess: two-hand touch football. The game was a simplified version of American football, and it was Sanusi’s first introduction to the sport.
From that point onwards, Lopez began to prioritise American football over other sports.
“Soccer is good, but for me personally, I’m a bigger athlete. I realised that this was a sport I really wanted to play,” Sanusi said.
Lopez comes from a sporting family, his brother played professional soccer and his sister ran track, so it was quite a surprise to the family when Lopez was fixated with a sport that most of his family had never even heard of. Lopez still jokes to this day that he’s the only one who knows anything about American football in his family.
Becoming a student of the game
Once Lopez knew that American football was a sport he wanted to pursue, that’s when the grind began. Lopez scoured the internet for his nearest American football club which just so happened to be the Belfast Trojans, who operate in the Irish American Football League [IAFL].
Lopez entered his Trojans career with little to no playing experience [unless you count playing two-hand touch during recess]. Sanusi started out on the Trojans’ youth team before he was rapidly called-up to the senior team after a string of impressive performances.
“It was all about hard work and dedication to the game. The Trojans had training twice a week, but I could only make training once a week due to work. Every day, I used to go to the gym or the field and workout,” Sanusi said.
Scoring touchdowns was an element of American football that Lopez wanted a slice of. However, his coaches thought he’d be suited to the defensive side of the ball rather than the offensive side- they were right.
“It took a lot of convincing from my coaches to change my position from running back to defensive end. I used to watch a lot of Derrick Henry and I looked up to him. When they told me to give the defensive line a chance, I wasn’t too happy, but I’ll never forget my first game as a defensive end.
“I had to step up against the South Dublin Panthers. We were lacking players on defense. I had two sacks and a couple of tackles for loss. From that day onwards, I was like, this is my position,” Sanusi said with a smirk.
Sanusi battled with injuries during his first season but showed enough in the games he did participate in to win Defensive Player of the Year with the Trojans.
The NFL Academy
Located in Loughborough, England. The NFL Academy offers student athletes ranging from 16-19 years of age the chance to perfect their game by learning from full-time professional coaches. The NFL Academy consists of American football prospects from all over the world.
Once the academy coaches witnessed Lopez in action, they were intrigued but there was severe competition for academy spaces from other hopeful athletes.
“I sent them my film and from then on, the coaches were really interested in me. They had over 1,000 applications and only accepted 30 people, and I was one of those 30,” Sanusi added.
Lopez is the only Irish-born player in the NFL Academy. He’s also the only player to make it from the Irish domestic league [IAFL] to the NFL Academy.
“It’s a blessing, every single day I count my blessings,” Sanusi said.
“I’m trying to put Ireland on the map. I’m trying to do big things. I’m trying to motivate kids to show them that anything is possible. Dreams do come true if you work hard,” he added.
Sanusi is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Efe Obada and David Ojabo. Both players started their footballing careers outside of the United States with minimal knowledge of the sport. Now, both players are active in the NFL, Obada with the Washington Commanders and Ojabo with the Baltimore Ravens.
“I’ve met Efe Obada. All those guys are amazing. There’s no messing around. They’ve been in the same spot that I’ve been in and then when you look at where they’re at right now, it’s amazing,” Sanusi said.
“In Ireland, it’s not that easy to play American football, it’s more of a soccer-based country. I think if a kid is interested in playing American football, they should search up the same thing I did: ‘American football teams near me’. Find out the rules about American football, try-out for teams and move forward from there,” Sanusi added.
The Irishman is currently training with the NFL Academy with the goal of receiving a footballing scholarship to continue his playing career at the collegiate level, and from there, make it to the National Football League.