- Author, Brian McLauchlin
- Role, BBC Sport Scotland senior reporter
Praise Olatoke, the Los Angeles Chargers’ new Scottish wide receiver, has described his journey from Nigeria via Glasgow to the NFL as “crazy”.
The 24-year-old has joined the Chargers after he failed to earn a spot with the Philadelphia Eagles when he attended a rookie minicamp in May.
He will now compete to earn a place on the Chargers’ final 53-man active roster for 2024.
Olatoke was born in Nigeria but moved to Scotland when he was just five years old and was a pupil at Cardonald Primary School in Glasgow before attending St Columba’s in Kilmacolm.
“It’s a crazy journey, honestly,” he said. “I was just talking to my mom yesterday about how far I’ve came from.
“From Kinning Park to Los Angeles is just nuts to think about the different directions and countries and cities taken to get here, so I it feels great. It was a crazy story.
“I strive to live like a life of adventure and this is something that sort of proves that. I’m just going for adventure. Yeah, I’m excited. I’m ready to see where this takes me.”
Olatoke says that, after the disappointment of missing out on a place with the Eagles, he was unsure if his dream of playing NFL would come true. Then the call came from LA.
“To be very, very candid, after I got back from Philadelphia, I didn’t know if the league was going to work out for me.” he said. “So I spent two three weeks sort of decompressing from football, reflecting on what I want to do.
“I was starting to make moves like my next adventure. I didn’t know where life was going next.
“But I don’t limit myself and what I think I can do. I want to go to Mars, so I’ll go to the Moon. Eventually, I think I’ll do it.”
Olatoke will return to Scotland next week then head back to the United States for thw Chargers’ four-week summer training camp before the start of the NFL season in September.
Because he joined the side via the NFL’s international pathway programme, which gives 16 athletes from the around the world the opportunity to train with and earn a spot on a top team’s roster, he does not count towards the Chargers’ 90-man off-season roster during training camp.
The Chargers will gradually cut the 90-man roster down to 53 before September.
Olatoke would also not count towards the Chargers’ practice squad limit if he were to land a spot.