Nationwide — 18-year old Leslie Adindu, a Nigerian native who is currently a homeless high school student from Forth Worth, Texas, has been recruited to play college football. He was able to achieve that feat despite all his challenges.
Adindu said he couldn’t even properly throw a ball before he actually learned about football in 2019.
“I couldn’t throw it, normally you have to hold the ball at the letter part, I didn’t know you had to do that I just flung it and it didn’t go far,” Adindu told Fox News.
However, Charles Perry, the team’s coach at Arlington Heights High School, saw potential in him and convinced him to try the sport. Adindu eventually got the hang of it.
Last year, he played two games on the Junior Varsity team before the pandemic began. The team continued workouts virtually and eventually noticed that Adindu wasn’t showing up anymore.
As it turns out, Adindu had become homeless. After getting into an argument with his father, he moved out of the state and lived in a shelter.
More than that, he was told he couldn’t play football at Arlington Heights anymore because of his age. Still, his coaches helped him make it into college football. They made a highlight video of him in practice games and several universities reached out with scholarship offers.
Adindu ultimately chose to sign with Southwest Baptist University where he would play college football. He said that although it may seem that he is not showing his emotions, he is very grateful and he still can’t believe it.