Saturday 23 September 2017 08:37, UK
Jermaine Eluemunor returns home to London this week hoping to make his competitive NFL debut at Wembley, just 10 miles away from where he grew up.
The 22-year-old was born in Chalk Farm and his father John used to work as a security guard at nearby Wembley Stadium.
Eluemunor grew up in Camden playing rugby union and football but his NFL interest was piqued after channel surfing and chancing upon the broadcast of the first ever regular-season American Football game hosted at Wembley between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants.
A love affair was born, one that took Eluemunor to the States away from some of his family as a 14-year-old and eventually led him to the NFL when the Baltimore Ravens selected him in the fifth round of this year's draft.
Now, with the undefeated Ravens facing the Jacksonville Jaguars at the national stadium on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Action, offensive lineman Eluemunor is preparing to come back to where it all began.
The Londoner has been inactive the past two weeks during the Ravens' unbeaten start but a spate of injuries in his position could see him make his gridiron debut this weekend.
"Playing at Wembley has always been a dream of mine," he said.
"I'm just blessed to be able to come back and be in front of the fans and play at Wembley Stadium. I grew up watching games in that stadium so to be able to say I played there is something I will remember for the rest of my life.
"I remember watching a Chelsea-Manchester United game, the Champions League final, a couple of England games back when David Beckham, Michael Owen, Rio Ferdinand played, and Wayne Rooney in his younger days.
"Being able to play on the same field as those players, who are huge sport icons, is definitely something I will remember. It will be an honour, I have so many memories of that field and there's so much history."
And, as a child from inner London who has made it all the way to the professional ranks, he now hopes his tale can serve as inspiration for anybody that may happen to discover the NFL this weekend in the same manner he did.
"I've always wanted to play this game to inspire others and show people that they can accomplish whatever they want if they just work for it," he said.
"Hopefully, with me playing on Sunday, there is that kid who's watching the game for the first time and he falls in love with the NFL and says he wants to be like me.
"Then 10, 15 years later I hear there's a kid who's got drafted from England and says, 'Jermaine Eluemunor inspired me to play. He made it from London and he gave me hope that I could too'. Hearing something like that, there would be nothing sweeter."
