2022 Texas ATH Emeka Megwa One To Watch

During their recent trip to Fort Worth, Texas to check in on 2019 Notre Dame defensive end commit NaNa Osafo-Mensah‍, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and defensive line coach Mike Elston learned about one of Nolan Catholic High School’s future stars.

NCAA rules prevent extended in-person contact with underclassmen at this point, but Nolan Catholic head coach Dave Beaudin made sure they were able to get a look at 2022 athlete Emeka Megwa‍ on film.

“He’s an impressive looking kid, like really impressive,” Beaudin said of the freshman.

The Vikings lost their senior tailback to an injury early in the season and Megwa ended up being the starter.

“He’s the only underclassman who played,” Beaudin said. “There were no freshmen or sophomores other than him.

“He ripped it up. He ripped off some big runs. He may always play tailback for us and then go play linebacker in college. He’s just so big, so big. He’s a little over six foot, about 215 of just pure, yoked-up muscle.”

While Megwa seems destined to have an outstanding high school career at running back, he could end up playing defense in college, according to his coach.

“There’s a chance he could be a college running back, I just don’t know if he’s going to outgrow it,” Beaudin explained. “It’s hard to tell right now. He’s so big and he’s young, so I just don’t know how that’s going to project. I think he’s got the skillset to be a running back.

“He’s physical enough to do it and all of that. It’ll depend on the next couple of years, but right now, he’s a college tailback.”

Megwa earned a scholarship offer the summer prior to his freshman year as a linebacker based off his performance at their camp.

“At Baylor camp, he ran in the 4.4s this past summer coming out of eighth grade,” said Beaudin. “That’s what got him a Baylor offer, he hadn’t even stepped foot in high school yet. He’s big, he’s fast. He’s also really football smart.”

He’s since landed an offer from Florida.

Beaudin lauded the youngster for his football IQ.

“Our offense can be kind of complicated, especially in the passing game for a running back,” the coach said. “For a freshman to pick it up is unheard of. He’s one of those kids you coach him once on something and then he makes the correction instantly. That’s so rare for any kid, particularly a freshman.”

As schools continue to walk the Nolan Catholic halls in the days, weeks and months to come, Megwa is sure to turn plenty of heads and his recruitment could kick into a new gear relatively soon.

“He’ll have varsity film as a freshman on a legitimate stage,” Beaudin said. “You put all of that together, I think he’ll have action with some schools.”

Notre Dame isn’t in a position where it needs to pounce on a freshman at this point, but if the Irish do decide to make a move, they’d likely get a serious look from Megwa.

“He comes from a Catholic family. His family is from Nigeria, they’re really big on education, faith, family values. All of that stuff aligns with Notre Dame. NaNa was a big influence for him and was a mentor for him.”