Ben Banogu

Who is Ben Banogu?

Ben Banogu is one player who precisely satisfies the criteria, the qualities one has to have in order to be a strong defensive end include strength, agility, and speed.  Ben Banogu is a 26-year-old professional American football player.

Banogu began his career as a quarterback in charge of the offense before switching to a defensive end in charge of obliterating the offense.

He currently represents the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL.

Banogu is a talented chef in addition to being a skilled athlete.

His crash course is where one can find his meals.

Background of Family

Ben Banogu was born in Nigeria on January 19, 1996.

Banogu is now an NFL defensive end for the Indianapolis Colts.

He is a citizen of Nigeria. He is also a Capricorn according to the horoscope.

Ugochi Banogu is the name of his mother; his father’s name is not known.

He was only six months old when his little family relocated to Texas.

Similar to Ugochi, who used to work multiple jobs to support his family.

She graduated from UT Arlington with a nursing degree and is currently employed as a practitioner.

David, Wisdom, Michael, and Prince are among his other four brothers.

Among the siblings, Banogu is the second-youngest.

The same high school, Prosper High School, was attended by all of his siblings.

Additionally, football was a sport that all of his brothers liked.

But only Michael and Ben played football in college.

Banoogu’s family’s encouragement has always served as his source of motivation.

More Facts about Ben Banogu

Body measurements and playing style of Ben Banogu

Banogu is an athlete, hence his physique is muscular.

He has a height of 1.9 meters and a weight of about 114 kg (252 lbs).

His BMI was 31.5 when his height and weight were calculated.

Ben has a similar build with a height of 9 inches and an arm span of 33 5/8 inches.

Banogu claimed that in his early years, he was weak and slow. He truly adopted all of his criticisms and evolved into the person he is now.

To stop the offensive player in football, one must be strong and powerful.

Banogu began to train hard and became serious about weightlifting after enrolling at TCU.

He gained speed and strength at TCU, giving him a competitive advantage.

He shed 20 pounds in the first year of his studies at TCU.

Later, his figure became cut and slim.

The key to Banogu’s training is to work harder until you can no longer go, according to his training formula.

Regarding his playing style, Banogu is agile and has good all-around awareness.

Banoigu is strong and agile enough to use pass-rush techniques both inside and outside of buildings.

He also has the speed to pursue and tackle ball carriers from behind.

Bangou’s power, quickness, and agility make him a candidate to become a top defender.

College and High School Statistics

When Banogu entered seventh grade at Prosper High, he began participating in football.

He played quarterback during his Banogu high school football career.

Banogu was a competent quarterback despite not being the greatest.

He had always imagined sitting next to Michael Vick or Tom Brady.

He suffered a femur fracture during his second year.

Later, an injury caused him to miss the entirety of his junior year.

However, he has always enjoyed the recovery process and returning to the field.

A shift in position

He was suggested by head coach Kent Scott to be the ideal defensive end.

Later, during his final year, he began to play defensive end instead of a quarterback.

He made 21 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks in his first season playing defensive end.

Later, he was named to the Third Teams for both the All-State and All-District teams.

Banogu was a multisport athlete when he was in high school as well.

He participated in track and field, basketball, and football in high school.

He received All-District and All-Area honors in track and field during his senior year.

He was only rated as a 2-star recruit due to his injuries.

He therefore only received one FBS offer; the other offers came from D2.

Despite the fact that he had always desired to play at a higher level, he seized the chance to accept a football scholarship to the University of Louisiana.

At ULM, Banogu redshirted his freshman year.

He played as a starter as a redshirt freshman, compiling 14 tackles for loss and 5 sacks.

He was named to the All-Sun Belt Newcomer Team for his efforts.

Transfer

Later, he was given a football scholarship by Texas Christian University.

He accepted the invitation to go back home and play for the Big 12 title challenger despite having no prior college experience and having never been there.

He grew and changed into the top draft prospect when he was attending TCU.

He also changed his TCU academic schedule so that he could watch tapes with coaches to enhance his performance.

Banogu was forced to sit out the 2016 campaign due to NCAA transfer regulations.

When he came back, in his junior year, he started for the team and finished with 16.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.

He was also named to the All-Big 12 first team and was named the league’s top defensive newcomer.

His contributions assisted the group in earning a spot in the Big 1 Championship contest.

Banogu’s first college touchdown came in a September win over Iowa State at home during his senior year of 2018.

He was named to the All-Big 12 first team once more in his last year.

Banogu has 8.5 sacks and 18.0 tackles for loss at the end of the regular season.

Banogu received a risk management degree from his college.

As a linebacker for the north team, he was also invited to the 2019 Senior Bowl.

Ben Banogu | Career Information

NFL Draft and Combine

Ben Banogu performed admirably at the NFL combine. The athlete was one of the best at the combine.

Bangou’s athleticism and mobility also aided him during on-field practices.

Ben first ran the 40-meter yard dash in 4.62 meters.

He also finished a three-cone drill and a 20-yard shuttle in 4.27 seconds and 7.02 seconds, respectively.

Then, Banogu, a defensive lineman, set the record for the longest board jump by jumping 3.40m, followed by a 1.2m vertical leap.

Finally, he finished 23 bench press repetitions.

Later, in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts selected Banogu with the 49th overall pick.

He became the 47th TCU athlete selected by an NFL team since 2000, all under coach Patterson.

Professional Beginning

On September 9, 2019, Banogu made his season debut against the Los Angeles Chargers.

He recorded a half-sack in the first game of his career.

He played 217 defensive snaps and finished his rookie season with 2.5 sacks and 3.0 tackles for loss.

He moved up the depth chart for the defensive end position, grabbing No. 3.

Initial Pro Sack

Banogu needed to take a bigger step, according to Colts general manager Chris Ballard, but he did so too quickly.

Ben is prepared to make a statement after a challenging first two seasons in the NFL.

Ben spent all the offseason training with DeForest Buckner, while also working on his skills with other trainers and teammates.

And the training has given its result way too soon to have Banogu’s name coming up with a sack during practice.

Visits Colts 2021 | Free-agency target

The Colts are aiming high to spend immensely in free agency during the 2021 offseason and there are rumors that Kemoko Turay and Banogu, tarting defensive ends are the supposed talents who fall under their target.

Mentor, Justin Houston

Well, Justin Houston, Al-Quadin Muhammad, and Denico Autry are already on their list to hit free agency.

Moreover, there was news that Ben discovered an unexpected inspiration and learned from Houston.

According to Ben, Houston is someone who is an easy fit to become his mentor, and wants to forge a strong bond with him.

Also, they both come from defenses in TCU and Kansas City that allow them to do more than their potential.

They both have landed recently on the free market thus, they share much more in common.

Moreover, when they stand up at the defensive end for the Colts, they are exceptional.

Additionally, according to Ben, Khalil Mack and Von Miller are those edge-type players that can get after the quarterback and get into coverage.

Ben Banogu in Todd McShay’s first mock draft

Todd McShay who has been an analyst and commentator for ESPN had New England Patriots taking Ben from TCU with the 30th overall pick in his first mock draft.

Actually, Bill Belichick standing to abide by McShay’s decision found a versatile edge defender in Banogu.

Stats

Highlights

• Two times First-team All-Big 12 in 2017 and 2018
• 2017 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year

Personal Life and Social Media

Banogu is currently dating Ana Matamoros.

She celebrated her birthday on 25th November.

Her profession is unknown, but she was a soccer player back in her high school days.

She is a dog lover and has one named Manny.

As of 2021, they don’t have children but are living a happy life.

The two have already traveled to many places together, both national and international.

Both of them have photos many photos of them together traveling.

Hobbies

Banogu is not only good at football; he is also good to cook.

He spends an abnormal amount of time cooking food.

Because of his cooking skills, he also got a lot of attention.

Even his teammates at Colts thought he was joking at first when he offered to cook for them.

Banogu got his cooking skills from his mom.

He used to watch his mom cook and later learned to cook it.

So, in the future, it won’t be any surprise if Banogu opens his own restaurant, but now he is more focused on football.

During his free or spare time at TCU, he also picked up the habit of juggling.

As they traveled to away games, he always thought about games a lot.

So, he practiced juggling to get his mind off these games and relax.

On his Instagram, Banogu has highlighted sections named Crash Course, where he updates photos of meals he cooked.

Likewise, he also one time uploaded a tutorial in his crash course.

Later, Banogu became so perfect that he could juggle for 5 to 10 minutes, moving up and down.

He further mentions juggling helped him cope with the anxiety of playing big games.

Salary and Net Worth

NFL is a money-making franchise in comparison to other football leagues.

NFL clubs can pay good value money to their players.

Banogu makes most of his money from playing football, but he also has endorsement deals as a being.

After being drafted by Colts, Banogu signed 4 years $5,944,506 deal.

In his first year, Banogu earned $1,080,819.

Later in the following season, 2020, he earned $1,351,024, and currently, in 2021, he will earn 1,621,229.

As one of the top prospects, he also signed a multi-year deal with Nike only in his rookie season.

Budlight also sponsors him.

The exact net worth of Banogu is not published anywhere yet.

According to various online sources, Ben Banogu’s net worth is around $1.5 million.

Also read:     Conor Benn     Cesaro     Steve Sarkisian

Social Media Presence:

Banogu is quite active on social media.

He usually posts videos and photos of his lifestyle, cooking, and football-related stuff on his social handles.

You can follow him via these links:

Instagram: 13.2 followers

Twitter: 7.9k followers