David Onyemata

The East-West Shrine Game has frequently featured top-rated Canadian prospects in the past, and Onyemata made a statement with a sack and at least one other pressure with surprising initial quickness and flexibility. He recorded a monster hit on Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock after swimming through Memphis left tackle Fallin Taylor in the fourth quarter. It was more noticed served by the University of Manitoba star that he is ready to make the difficult transition to the NFL despite arriving in Canada from Nigeria just five years ago. A dominating presence for the Bison, Onyemata was awarded the J.P. Metras Trophy as the top down lineman in Canadian university football despite working against constant double-teams while posting 5.0 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss among his 50 total tackles. He was the first Bisons player to win the J.P. Metras Trophy since Israel Idonije in 2002. It has been a rapid learning curve for Onyemata, who had no exposure to football before moving to Winnipeg. He is the youngest of six children, and did not even hear about football until some friends who were from the United States began telling him about it in high school and Onyemata began watching some CFL games on television. Onyemata told Sportsnet.com in January that he had two siblings attend school in London and another in Kamloops, British Columbia, and knew he "wanted to get away from home for university early on." Once at the University of Manitoba, he walked into coach Brian Dobie's office, and Dobie told him to come out to practice that day. Onyemata spent most of his first year learning the basics of playing the defensive line, and officially made the team his second season at the school. He played limited snaps that year and became a starter in his third year at the school. "I just went out there and enjoyed the game," he told Sportsnet.com. "Everyone helped me learn, get stronger and improve -- there wasn't just one person. I tried to just put my mind into it the whole time and that played a big role. "My family really doesn't understand the whole NFL process, but at the same time I've been keeping them updated with everything. Right now I'm back to the learning process again. The system in the NFL game is a little bit different. Hopefully I can get my name out there and get a shot on a team. I have to live up to the hype."