Aer Lingus Classic - College Football Diaries : NaNa Osafo-Mensah

Can you tell us about your background and how you started playing football? Your influences/ earliest memories and did you play any other sports growing up?

Yeah, so I started playing football in the second grade; at first, I played flag football in kindergarten and first grade, but in second grade, I finally convinced my mom to let me play true contact football. That's what started my love for the game. Funny enough, I was more into basketball growing up. I have always dreamed of playing professional basketball or even collegiate basketball. But when I got to high school I ended up playing football in my freshman year cause my friends were playing, and I wanted to have fun playing with them. Then we had a huge coaching shift where all my football coaches changed to a new school, and we had a new coach come in; he emphasized to me the potential I had to play collegiately, which I had never thought of before. So, once we had that conversation after my sophomore year, it kicked off a lot more intensely; I took it much more seriously with my training. After my sophomore year, I actually received my first offer from Texas A&M. Then, after that, I still enjoyed basketball, but I had to focus more on my football training, and then that's really where football took off for me for the rest of my life.

When was the moment you knew you wanted to make football your main focus? Was there a particular game you played really well in?

There was one game where I had the first sack of my sophomore season. I didn’t think much of it, but I remember my coach pulling me in and talking to me about the way I was able to come off the edge and make a play like that and telling me that I could make a football career out of that and that kind of made me see football in a different landscape. After making that play, I made a tackle for loss and forced a fumble to help the team, but my coaches told me I could be an elite pass rusher if I kept training and making plays. That is where it took off and changed my mentality on how seriously football could change my future.

What is the process like when being scouted from High School to College? Did you have multiple offers, what were the key reasons you wanted to play for Notre Dame?

Recruiting was a lot of fun for me. It was nice because my coach from high school had an excellent connection with college coaches and got our film out to different schools. So I could rack up 32/33 scholarship offers from all over the place, like Notre Dame, Texas, Georgia, UCLA, Arkansas, and Alabama. It was cool to see how many of these schools had a lot of interest in me - coaches were coming into my campus in Texas all the time and would show up to our front office, and our principal would be shocked that all these top schools were visiting me. They would pull me out of class for 15-60 minutes to speak to me about their universities. When I got to my junior year, I was allowed to start going on these visits, which was a lot of fun.

I remember when I went on my Notre Dame visit, what really attracted me was that most schools would just show me the glitz and glamour of the university but ND gave me the opportunity to also go to the class and get the full college experience and the education that they were providing was of huge interest to me because I always took a lot of pride in that, remembering what that degree could do for me in the long term just as much as football can help me which was what really attracted me. Also the society of people there, I could see myself fitting in with those people, those players on campus in South Bend Indiana definitely helped my decision in committing to ND

What was typical day in the life whilst at TCU & ND?

Can you remember the excitement in your locker room when the news dropped that Notre Dame would play Navy Football in the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland?

I remember it was insane, all the guys literally thought it was a joke you know cause we are the ‘Fightin Irish’ joking about us playing in Ireland. It was really cool though because we were supposed to play in 2020 but it was cancelled due to Covid. So when we learned that the whole team was going to be going out there we were super stoked, many of our guys had never left the country before so they were super pumped. The way the whole school helped us get all the guys passports ready to make sure they could get out there so it was cool to see. Nobody really knew much about Ireland, I was super excited to go play internationally because I never would have thought i could of got that opportunity.

What was the feeling like on gameweek for the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland?

Fans were all over the whole city of Dublin the entire week and a lot of the guys' families came out too so we had a great time being able to get a taste of the culture. But it was cool because I had already been out there twice before (earlier that year to promote the game and also for an internship) so I was able to meet some friends and introduce them to some of the guys on our team. But I remember going to restaurants where we got to taste some Irish cuisine and I even got introduced to some of the true fish and chips, definitely the best fish and chips I've ever had in my life! The guys were also into a very popular stew. I also remember one of my previous teammates, Devin Heusten, got involved in a little performance where he got to show what moves and he was dancing to Irish music. I remember he hit a split and everyone went crazy in the crowd. 

You went back to your Hometown to play out your final football season at the Collegiate level with TCU. How special was that experience?

It was everything to me, it was really just that cherry on top to finalise my season and my career playing in college football because being from Fort Worth I had grown up going to a lot of TCU games and i always had a dream of representing the City I’m from and have the community of people I grew up with from family, classmates, teachers and coaches and people I met in Fort Worth, it was a great time. Having my family drive 15 minutes to my game rather than fly 3 hours to South Bend was super convenient. So it really made that last season a lot more personal for me because all the people I knew wanted to see me play but didn't have the opportunity to visit me in ND or couldn't tune in.

What is your most memorable moment of your football career so far?

One of em when we played USC in 2023 with ND, it had been one of my best games because I had 1.5 sacks and a couple of tackles and I remember how big of a game that was, they still had Caleb Williams as quarterback and they were pretty high ranked, I had the chance to come out and play some of my best football, it was a true dog fight!

Another one I would say would be against Oklahoma state with TCU, during the first drive of the game I made a sack on the play right in front of my family and my mom was the first one to jump and I was pointing at her, celebrating with her, yeah that's definitely a moment that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life

You have entered the 2025 NFL Draft coming up later this month. Can you give us an insight into what the preparation is like for this?

The preparation has been a huge ride. I recently signed with an agency lady lib run by Rashida Liberty, she has given me so many opportunities to help me set up for this. Since my last game in the Albuquerque Bowl I had been training for my pro day. I went to Tampa to train with trench academy, an elite group of guys who work on specifics like speed, agility and even recovery.

I was lucky enough to get an invite to the Dallas Cowboys open day workout where they invite guys from the DFW area to come do a private workout with the DC coaches and then we get assessment from the trainers and a tour of the facility whilst meeting the coaches. Now I'm just staying ready for the NFL Draft. Next is rookie training camps and rookie mini camps.
 

What is one piece of advice that you would give to up and coming football players that helped you get to where you are today?

 The biggest piece of advice is to stay ready for any sort of diversity. The road to play even collegiately is going to entail many ups and downs but in my years I've seen so many guys prevail through injury, mental strain and other circumstances that were still able to prevail. So i would say always be ready to handle those times when life gets hard and a little bit hectic.
Along with that, is to stay available - do all the small things that will help you to be ready when your number is called. The guys that are most available are normally the ones that will be most successful. Even if they are not playing a whole lot right not, when their number is called they are ready to come out and succeed

What would it mean for you to play in the NFL this upcoming season?

It would mean everything - being able to play in the league has been a childhood dream for such a long time and being able to play professionally which would not only mean everything to me but also to my family and those who have poured everything to me. When I see my parents I remember how much struggle they had to endure coming to America and starting a whole new life and when I went to Ghana I learned about their upbringing. Seeing my parents make countless flights, booking countless hotels all over the country supporting me, I want to have the opportunity to really make them proud and get to that stage that they've been trying to help me get to. So getting to the league is the ultimate achievement not only for me but for those who have supported me, cared about me unconditionally so i just know if i have the opportunity its not going to only be me representing me but i’m also representing all of those who helped me along the way.

We welcomed NaNa to Ireland a number of times in the buildup to the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic for promotional trips, an internship and of course to play in the game itself. 

NaNa is another great example of the top level talent that is on show at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic each and every year. He joins the long list of players with hopes or who have progressed on to play in the NFL. Many of NaNa’s Notre Dame teammates  from the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic are currently playing in the league today, with the likes of Joe Alt, Audric Estimé and Marist Liufau all being recruited to the league in the 2023 draft. 

We have had the pleasure of following NaNa’s journey throughout college football ever since he came onto our radar for the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic and we hope to be able to keep showing support for many years to come as he continues his American football journey! 

Until next time.
 

Tickets On Sale Now

The Aerlingus College Football Classic is back on the 23rd of August at the Aviva Stadium for another thrilling American Football Experience! Kansas State University will play Iowa State University in the first ever Big 12 Conference game and the 10th ever College Football game held on the Emerald Isle.

Pick up your ticket today -  HERE