"I told you, coach. I told you, coach."
That's Kiran Amegadjie's plan coming full circle. He called his shot of being drafted by his hometown team, the Chicago Bears, and it came to fruition at the 2024 NFL Draft in April.
On Tuesday, he detailed the extraordinary story with the Bears.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The story takes place at Kemper Lakes, a golf course near the Lake Zurich suburb of Chicago. Amegadjie's father, Boris, is a frequent of the club, golfing there and taking Amegadjie when he could growing up --- sometimes making him caddy.
During the summer of 2023, Boris recognized Bears head coach Matt Eberflus playing golf at the club. At this time, Amegadjie was heading into his last season at Yale as an offensive tackle with NFL prospects.
Boris called up Amegadjie to tell him he saw Eberflus, inviting him to the course to talk to the Bears head coach. Initially, Amegadjie resisted, as he was sleeping and was a 45-minute drive from the course. But his father insisted he come, and he did.
Bears News
Once Eberflus was at the turn, Amegadjie approached him and told him he was an offensive tackle at Yale. He also didn't hesitate to predict the future. He told Eberflus the Bears would look to draft him in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Flash forward to April 2024, they did. The Bears selected Amegadjie --- the Hinsdale native --- in the third round with the No. 75 pick. When Eberlfus called him to congratulate him, he remembered what Amegadjie told him months earlier.
"A year ago you said you were gonna come to the Chicago Bears. You were right, huh?" Eberflus said.
"I told you, coach. I told you, coach," Amegadjie responded over the phone.
"You did tell me. Tell your dad he's got a new golf partner," Eberflus said.
The video dives deep into Amegadjie's upbringing from two African parents who valued their children's education. And while Amegadjie prioritized their parents' wishes by attending Yale University, he couldn't hide his love for football.
His parents didn't know a thing about American football. They thought it was too violent for Amegadjie to play. Amegadjie grew up a huge Bears fan, beloving Devin Hester growing up.
Eventually, he convinced his parents to let him play. And the rest is history. Once his dreams finally came true with his family, and their village's king, in attendance, he was barely conscious for the moment of being drafted.
"Getting the call was ... I think I blacked out, honestly," Amegadjie said. "All I remember was the phone flashing and it flashed off. And I called the number back, I was like 'Please pick up.' I thought I missed the call. And then they ended up calling me back and it was Mr. Poles."
Now that Amegadjie is finally in the NFL, he doesn't plan on missing out on the opportunity to be the best he can be.
"I'm a football player," Amegadjie said. "That's who I am at the end of the day. That's my identity. I wear that on my sleeve every single day. I'm a baller, I'm a dog. A lot of times you hear that because I played in the Ivy League I'm more focused on finding a job and finding my next career move.
"This is what I want to do. I play football and that's who I am. This has been what I've wanted to do my whole life. I want to play in this league for as long as possible. And I want to be the best player at my position in the league. And I'm not gonna stop until I do so."