Offensive lineman Yahya Attiah, a product of England's NFL academy, has signed a financial aid deal to play soccer in Colorado. (Yahiya Attia Social Media)
Colorado discovered offensive line depth overseas.
On Wednesday, Yahya Attia of the NFL Academy in Loughborough, England announced that he has signed a financial aid contract with the Buffaloes and will join head coach Deion Sanders' 2024 recruiting class.
NFL Academy is a development program for student-athletes ages 16-19. This allowed more than 40 of his players to earn college scholarships, including current CU linebacker Kofi Taylor-Bullocks.
Attia came to CU as a 6-foot-4, 330-pound lineman. Although he has little football experience, he has plenty of potential and has a great nickname known as “Bulldozer”.
Born in Egypt, Atia was three years old when her family moved to Vienna, Austria. He is a former soccer player, but gave up soccer due to injury and continued his development thereafter.
“I've always been one of the big guys,” he said in an interview with Britain's Sun newspaper. “I had to quit soccer due to an injury, and I ended up getting bigger and heavier. My friends convinced me to start playing sports again, and I started playing American football for the Vienna Vikings. It was.”
He started playing soccer in Vienna only about a year and a half ago. And he convinced his parents last year that he should leave home to get the chance to enroll in an NFL academy.
At Wednesday's signing ceremony, Atia said, “Everything I have is because of the sacrifices of my parents. … I really enjoyed my time at the academy. All the hard work paid off.”
At the NFL Academy, his head coach was Steve Hagen, a longtime NFL and college coach who also coached with the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets, as well as California, North Carolina, and Notre Dame. Current CU offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur served as the Browns' head coach from 2011 to 2012, while Hagen served as the tight ends coach.
“This means a lot to me because this is what I wanted to do,” Attia told talkSPORT about the opportunity from CU. “I always wanted to play soccer at the next level in America…and my dream has come true.
“Coach Prime, they say they only raise men, not boys, so I have to be ready for that.”
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