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Ebenezer Ekuban
Denver Broncos defensive lineman Ebenezer Ekuban was born in Ghana. At the University of North Carolina, he earned first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors and was a first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1999.
Q: Coming from Ghana, how did you get into football?
Ekuban: I was always a big guy in high school. But I would just come home, do my homework, and that was it. My father got tired of me being home after school.
Q: Has football caught on in Ghana?
Ekuban: It's funny you should ask that because I try to go back to my homeland every two years. I find more and more people who recognize me as an American football player. Football is gaining popularity in Africa. I grew up in Washington, D.C., and the Washington Redskins were my favorite team. But my favorite player was (former Kansas City Chiefs running back) Christian Okoye.
Q: In high school you played defensive line and tight end. Have you asked the Broncos to give you a chance to catch a few passes?
Ekuban: The high school I went to, everybody played pretty much both sides. I played defensive end, tight end and kicker. In college Tim Brewster was the tight ends coach. He's here coaching tight ends in Denver now, so I keep getting in his ear.
Q: Your alma mater won college basketball's national championship but lost a lot of players. What are they going to do in 2005-06?
Ekuban: I probably shouldn't say it, but I'm hoping basketball has a down year so football gets some credit. When I was (playing at UNC), everybody knew it was a basketball school, but we slowly turned it into a football school. We were doing really well. If we just would have beaten Florida State . . .
Q: You're a big guy (6-foot-3, 275 pounds) but really considered a calm, easy-going guy. How do you turn it on to where you want to rip off the quarterback's head?
Ekuban: (Laughing) It's easy for me. When I see an opposing guy who's 6-foot-5, 330 pounds . . . I automatically wake up. You put everything else on the back-burner. It's all about turning it up.
Q: You have a nickname?
Ekuban: No. I'm a straight-forward kind of guy. I just go with the flow.
Q: Like "Eb" and flow, maybe?
Ekuban: You could say that.
Q: You played one season for Bill Parcells in Dallas, and you're learning the Broncos system under Mike Shanahan. Which of the two is more of a stickler for detail?
Ekuban: Whew . . . I'd have to say both bring a lot to the table. But from a defensive standpoint, Parcells would come to our defensive meeting rooms. Coach Shanahan is more of an offensive guy. That's tough to answer.
Q: Have you gotten used to the altitude here in Denver?
Ekuban: Oh man . . . after the Indy game (in the preseason), I felt like I had just gotten here -- and I've been here since April. I know when we went to Houston, I felt like I could run all night.
Q: Fans have given nicknames for the four Cleveland Browns linemen playing in Denver. Have you guys given yourselves a nickname?
Ekuban: No, we really haven't. We hear people say things like the "Brown-cos." We're relatively subdued guys (laughing) -- except maybe Gerard (Warren). We just want to show the Browns they were wrong in letting us go.