Emeka Egbuka (born October 14, 2002) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

, finishing as their career receptions leader prior to being selected by the Buccaneers in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Early life

Egbuka was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

and grew up in Steilacoom, Washington. He began playing football at a young age, and initially wanted to play

for the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...

. His admiration for the program came from their uniforms and his idolization of late Ducks linebacker Fotu Leiato, a fellow Steliacoom native and childhood mentor of Egbuka. He attended Steilacoom High School and was named the Washington Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior after he caught 83 passes for 1,607 yards and 25 touchdowns and compiled 2,240 all-purpose yards with three punt return touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns. Egbuka was also a standout

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

athlete, playing Center-fielder throughout his youth career. When he was 8 years old, he won the

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

's Pitch, Hit & Run competition for his age group. Egbuka credits baseball as a contributor for his athleticism, and claims it helped him develop into a better wide receiver. Egbuka was rated a five-star recruit and committed to play college football at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

College career

Egbuka joined the

as an early enrollee in January 2021, forgoing his senior season at Steilacoom which had been moved to the spring due to COVID-19. He played in 11 games as a freshman and caught nine passes for 191 yards. He also returned 20 kickoffs for 580 yards and was named honorable mention All-Big Ten Conference. As a sophomore in 2022, Egbuka recorded over 1,000 receiving yards. He set the school's career receptions record during his 2024 senior season with 205. Emeka Egbuka 2024

Professional career

Egbuka was selected in the first round with the 19th overall pick by the

in the 2025 NFL draft.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Personal life

Egbuka is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. Egbuka's grandfather Ron Frederick was elected mayor of

DuPont, Washington DuPont is a city in Pierce County, Washington, Pierce County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 10,151 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Originally a company town, the city is named after the DuPont ch ...

, in 2020.

References

External links

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers bioOhio State Buckeyes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egbuka, Emeka Living people 2002 births African-American Christians American football wide receivers Ohio State Buckeyes football players People from Steilacoom, Washington Players of American football from Pierce County, Washington Tampa Bay Buccaneers players