Nigerian/American NFL Cornerback Prince Amukamara on Following the Prince of Peace

Confidently high stepping at the NFL cornerback position is a noble man, with broad enough shoulders to carry a very weighty name – that is easier to spell than it is to say. Prince Amukamara explains while the spelling is the same, his last name is commonly pronounced one way in Nigeria and two different ways in America.   

Now five years into the league, Amukamara is making a name for himself, recently signing a free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  He’s among the league’s best cornerbacks at stopping the run while often playing isolated when defending against receivers – at a position that’s difficult to fill. Prince explains, “If you are feeling alone out there, then it’s kind of a good thing because the team trusts you to be one on one with the other team’s best player. So lonely can be a good thing in football.”                           

So is winning but Prince made adjustments after he won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants his rookie year, He recalls, “It kind of spoiled me in the fact like I thought okay, every year would be like this.  So I really had to change my mindset real quick. That I’m not going to go to the Super Bowl every year and it takes a lot of work to even get back there.“     

The player with the long last name has made a name for himself as a standout defensive back. But it’s the first name Prince that makes the man unique. Not only defining who he is, but what he is. Amukamara says, “Prince isn’t only my first name, it’s my title also. In a small village in Nigeria called Awo-Omamma, my dad’s grandfather he was a king and in this village, the first son of the family gets the title “Prince”. So my dad’s a prince and since I’m the first and only son, I get that too.”

As a Nigerian, is there a chance he’d ever go back and fulfill that title?  Prince answers, “That’s a great question and my parents have been asking me that also. And I’m not opposed to it. It just really depends. There would have to be like a sign to send me over there.”

So what’s the response most people give when they hear his first name?”  Prince responds, “It depends on the person. For example, in college, if it was a female, she would say, ‘can I be your princess’, or something corny like that. And then other people would say, ‘are you serious?’ So it’s different.”  

Living the NFL life while playing in the world’s biggest city also draws a difference when visiting his family’s Nigerian village.  Of all that the United States has - what is it missing? What does it lack?  Prince answers that “It’s just crazy how, the things we make a big deal here, it’s definitely like a small deal over there. Everyone in the village that I lived in was so grateful to even receive anything. We should identify with those in need.”   

The 26 year-old became a Christ-follower while an All-American playing at the University of Nebraska.  When asked, “Our Heavenly Father biblically, is described as a King. His Son Jesus Christ as a Prince of Peace … As a Prince how does that look to you?”  Prince answers, “I’m not even worthy to have –to have that name, like being a prince, like you can feel a sense of entitlement, like I’m all deserving. But if you look at the life of Jesus Christ, who was –who is and was called the Prince, He’s on His knees washing His disciples’ feet. He’s serving - He’s the one who died on the cross. So Jesus really flipped the script in that sense.”

Prince has followed suit, taking a stand for purity and publically declaring his abstinence prior to his 2014 marriage. Price states, “It’s just funny it’s so taboo to not only be a virgin. But be a virgin and be a professional athlete. It was not an easy thing to do, not only because I would be honoring Christ with that, but I just feel like it saved me from a lot of trouble. I think my wife Pilar is very thankful that I did save that for her and that was probably the best gift that I could have ever given her.”

Prince Amukamara, the NFL’s regal cornerback – holds a greater gift – an inheritance - extended to him by an eternal Prince, declaring, “His Grace, man! There’s so many times where I’ve fallen short. And there’s so many times when people have done that to me. So the fact that He extends His grace to me, it makes it easier for me to extend it to others. And I don’t know where I would be without His grace. I feel like Jesus is the only way. I just truly believe in a changed heart and that starts with Jesus.”

By Tom Burhring