Another Nigerian is set to set USA’s National Football League (NFL) on fire next week, as 21-year-old Uar Bernard is holding great expectations and drawing many accolades heading into the 2026 draft from April 23rd to 25th, Sports247 reports.
READ ALSO: How Favour Ofili’s Türkiye Switch Was Stalled By Five Kenyans, Four Jamaicans
Leading the spray of accolades for Bernard is NFL Africa official, Osi Umenyiora, who is beaming with delight ahead of the new star’s trip to Pittsburgh with his pals from the league’s International Player Pathway (IPP) for this year’s draft.
Bernard, who stands 6 foot 4 1/2 inches tall and weighs in at 138kg, works part-time as a personal trainer to help support his family, but getting picked by an NFL team could see him earn an annual salary in excess of $2m.
The youngster, who was born in Abuja, can vertically jump almost one metre high and his hand measurement is 28cm and he recently completed the NFL’s 36.5m dash in just 4.63 seconds.
Bernard left many mouths agape during the 10-week IPP programme, which identifies talent and gives those selected the opportunity to develop further in the NFL, with life changing effects for the lad with four sisters and three brothers.
The next whiz-kid, whose name is on all lips, emerged from Unguwa Uku, a village of roughly 2,500 inhabitants in northern Nigeria and he has already been set apart from this year’s IPP group due to his truly remarkable physical attributes.
Umenyiora told BBC Sport Africa, “In terms of pure physical talent, Uar sits right near the top among the athletes we’ve assessed through the programme. There are very few people with his combination of size, speed and natural explosiveness.”
Skyler Fulton, the head of the NFL’s IPP program, told The Athletic that both Bernard and another IPP D-lineman, Josh Weru, will get picked on the draft’s third day, while adding that the Nigerian star’s progress ‘has been crazy to watch.’
He began the training programme on January 18th in Florida with Luallen, stepping in at 295 pounds with 11 percent body fat, following which he achieved an initial attraction when he vertical-jumped 32 inches and broad-jumped 9-4.
Bernard measured in earlier this week at the NFL’s HBCU showcase at 6-4 1/2, 306 pounds with 11-inch hands and almost 36-inch arms, with experts who have spent their lifetimes in football saying he looks like a Marvel creation.
Despite his six per cent body fat, Bernard later vertical-jumped 39 inches and broad-jumped 10-10, which was 14 inches more than any other defensive tackle did at this year’s combine and his 40-yard dash was 4.63.
Luallen added to the superlatives as he told The Athletic, “Hands down, he is the most explosive athlete I’ve ever seen in my life. He broad jumped 10-10, and it was effortless. At 306 pounds. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
 on fire next week, as 21-year-old Uar Bernard is holding great){kind=link}