DT Hero Kanu left soccer and Germany behind and is eager to make big splash for Ohio State

Almost every Ohio State freshman has a welcome-to-college-football moment, and defensive tackle Hero Kanu remembers his well.

During a preseason camp scrimmage two years ago, Buckeye offensive tackle Josh Fryar pancaked Kanu.

“My stomach was flattened,” he said. “All the air was out. I was like, ‘Dang.’ I looked up at coach J (defensive line coach Larry Johnson) and he said, ‘You’re staying in.’”

Kanu persevered that day and ever since. Now he could be poised for a breakthrough on OSU’s deep defensive line. Ty Hamilton and Tyleik Williams are the projected starting tackles, but Kanu is among several pushing for more playing time.

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Kanu’s potential is particularly intriguing because he is still new to football. He grew up in Geltendorf, Germany, a village of only a few hundred people. His mom is German and his dad Nigerian.

Kanu’s favorite sport was soccer. He was a goalkeeper, and a good one. But when he grew to 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds as a teenager, he became too big for that position.

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Besides, he’d been introduced to football by an older friend, Phillip Okonkwo, who’d played high school ball in Oklahoma and believed it suited him better.

“Football is different than soccer,” he said. “I don’t want to disrespect anybody, but (soccer) is a little bit softer. If you hit somebody, somebody may fall (and draw a foul), and I didn’t like that because a lot of times it’s fake. I didn’t like the whole mentality. I was like, I need something new, and at the same moment football came into my life.”

Kanu’s friend knew Brandon Collier, a Cleveland native who founded PPI Recruits, which helps place international prospects with colleges. Collier was impressed by Kanu's potential.

"You saw the brute strength from him," Collier told The Dispatch. "He had very heavy hands and from how he could move from his soccer background, I knew his future would be really big at defensive tackle."

Collier was also struck by Kanu's personality.

"He's almost like a big teddy bear," he said. "A big smile, always happy. It's tough to get him mad unless you're on the football field. I say this all the time because I work with great kids, but he's the 1% of 1% character-wise. He brightens up a room. Regardless of what he does with football, he's going to be successful because people like to be around him."

For Kanu, that path included moving to California.

“At first, I was like – how do you say it in English? – flabbergasted,” he said with a laugh. “I was honestly like, ‘Is this real?’ It took a couple of days to really process it, and then I told Brandon, ‘Hey, whatever it takes.’ I went to America and played my season there, and the rest is history.”

Kanu went to Santa Margarita Catholic High School in California because the school's coach, Anthony Rouzier, is the school's football coach.

"Leaving home in Germany at 15 years old to test America and be by himself and leaving his family and friends is a testament, and I think Buckeye fans should be rooting for this kid," Collier said. "I don't think anybody's got a better first name in college football than him."

About that first name...

Kanu's siblings are David and Deborah, and his parents wanted another name that began with a "D."

"My mom suggested Damon or something like that," Kanu said. "My dad is a very religious guy who said it sounds too much like demon and didn't like it. He slept that night and woke up in the middle of the night and said, 'Hero!' My mom was like, 'What's going on?' He said, 'We're going to name our son Hero.'"

At Santa Margarita Catholic, Kanu became a four-star prospect. As he looks back, his path is one he couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago.

“I did not have that on my radar,” Kanu said. “That was awesome. God had a way for me. I followed him and followed his lead, and he brought me to the point that I am right now.”

The adjustment wasn’t easy. He learned English as a second language growing up but had to rely on Google Translator for the first three months in the U.S.

On the field, he needed to develop a mean streak.

“I think I’m naturally a nice guy, and coach J definitely had to push a little bit,” Kanu said. “I think he did a great job of bringing it out in me.”

Kanu played three games for Ohio State as a freshman and 12 last year. He got his only sack in the opener against Indiana when he bull-rushed an IU offensive lineman.

Kanu played 90 defensive snaps last season and showed enough that defensive coordinator can envision a bigger role for Kanu this year.

“Hero really flashed last year at times when you go back and watch the film,” Knowles said at the start of spring practice. “That's a guy who needs to have a good spring for us because he's going to be next man in.”

Though he did it less last year than usual, Johnson prefers to use a deep rotation. With a 12-team College Football Playoff, Ohio State could play more games than ever and will need to rely on their depth.

Kanu, who’s listed as 6-5 and 305 pounds, believes he’s ready for a larger role.

“I feel I’m elevating my game every day,” he said. “Coach J is pushing me every day to get better, to focus on the small things. It’s never the big things. It’s always small steps, small techniques, and he’s trying to fix that. I feel I’m improving well. I’m not worried about anything else right now.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football's Hero Kanu: Journey from soccer in Germany to OSU