I'm going to trust Rex on this one. There seems to be more to this kid than meets the eye.
Fistfight at the IK Corral: The story of the guy who punched Geno Smith
The sports world has known Ikemefuna Enemkpali for less than 24 hours. He is the now-former New York Jets linebacker who broke quarterback Geno Smith’s jaw, landing a punch that knocked Smith out for a couple months and led to his own immediate release. The sports world knows Enemkpali only for that, only for the worst moment of his football career.
Stan Eggen wants to change that. He has known Enemkpali since he recruited him out of high school in Texas. Eggen coached him for four seasons as Louisiana Tech’s defensive line coach. He knows Enemkpali not for the punch that changed his life. He knows Enemkpali as someone who volunteered in community projects, read to elementary school children and became a team captain by teammates’ votes.
“That’s the part I want to stand up for,” Eggen said Tuesday morning in a phone conversation from Ames, Iowa, where he now coaches at Iowa State. “Obviously, you can’t do what he did. He wishes he would have pushed pause and taken a deep breath and stepped away. When you start bringing up being a thug, that is not IK. I want to make sure people at least saw the other side.
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Fistfight at the IK Corral: The story of the guy who punched Geno Smith
The sports world has known Ikemefuna Enemkpali for less than 24 hours. He is the now-former New York Jets linebacker who broke quarterback Geno Smith’s jaw, landing a punch that knocked Smith out for a couple months and led to his own immediate release. The sports world knows Enemkpali only for that, only for the worst moment of his football career.
Stan Eggen wants to change that. He has known Enemkpali since he recruited him out of high school in Texas. Eggen coached him for four seasons as Louisiana Tech’s defensive line coach. He knows Enemkpali not for the punch that changed his life. He knows Enemkpali as someone who volunteered in community projects, read to elementary school children and became a team captain by teammates’ votes.
“That’s the part I want to stand up for,” Eggen said Tuesday morning in a phone conversation from Ames, Iowa, where he now coaches at Iowa State. “Obviously, you can’t do what he did. He wishes he would have pushed pause and taken a deep breath and stepped away. When you start bringing up being a thug, that is not IK. I want to make sure people at least saw the other side.
More...
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