Kayode Awosika (born October 27, 1998) 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 ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

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

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Ame ...

and signed with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2021.

Early life

Kayode Awosika was born on October 27, 1998, in

Plymouth, Minnesota Plymouth is a city in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A suburb in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the city is about west of downtown Minneapolis. The population was 81,026 at the 2020 census, making it Minnes ...

, to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

n immigrants. He attended

Maple Grove Senior High School Maple Grove Senior High School (MGSH) is a public grade 912 high school located in Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Osseo School District (279). Its feeder schools are Maple Grove Middle School and Os ...

, being named USA Today first-team All-Minnesota as a senior.

Collegiate career

Awosika played college football for the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

. He redshirted during his freshman year. In his redshirt-freshman year, he saw action in five games, as a reserve offensive tackle. He started all 14 games in his sophomore year and 11 games in his junior year. He was named team captain in his junior year and was named second-team All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC). In his senior year, he started seven games, being named first-team All-MAC and a

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

second-team All-American. He chose to forgo remaining eligibility and instead declare for the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

After going unselected in the

2021 NFL draft The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May ...

, Awosika signed as an undrafted free agent with the

. He was given the second-most guaranteed money among the Eagles undrafted free agents, behind Jack Stoll. He was waived on August 31, 2021, and re-signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

the next day. Awosika made his NFL debut on January 8, 2022, in the Eagles' week 18 game against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

. In doing so, he became the first

Maple Grove High School Maple Grove Senior High School (MGSH) is a public grade 912 high school located in Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Osseo School District (279). Its feeder schools are Maple Grove Middle School and Os ...

alumnus to play in the NFL. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles on January 18, 2022. On August 30, 2022, Awosika was waived by the Eagles and signed to the practice squad the next day.

Detroit Lions

On September 15, 2022, Awosika was signed by the

off the Eagles practice squad. He was waived on August 29, 2023, and re-signed to the practice squad. On September 19, 2023, Awosika was signed to the active roster. On March 28, 2025, Awosika re-signed with the Lions.

References

External links

Detroit Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awosika, Kayode 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Plymouth, Minnesota Players of American football from Hennepin County, Minnesota Buffalo Bulls football players Philadelphia Eagles players Detroit Lions players American football offensive tackles American players of American football of Nigerian descent