Defensive lineman selected fifth overall in the CFL Draft, says he just wants an opportunity to play

Jonathan Kongbo doesn’t care where, as long as it is football.

In three years at the University of Tennessee, Kongbo never lived up to the hype of being the country’s No. 1 ranked junior college prospect. He did not fall out of favor with every professional personnel evaluator either.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers made the 6-foot-6, 264-pound defensive end the fifth overall selection in last Thursday’s 2019 Canadian Football League Draft. Days earlier he told Blue Bombers officials that he is open to playing up north and it would not be a wasted pick.

“They asked me what my aspirations were and I just told them straight up, ‘I just want to play ball. I don’t care where it’s at — wherever the opportunity presents itself,’” Kongbo said, according to the CFL website.

Kongbo went to Knoxville in 2016 after one season at Arizona Western College, where he was a junior college All-American and a high-profile college prospect. He made 50 tackles and three and half sacks in 30 games (17 starts) before a torn knee ligament ended his 2018 season after just six games.

He expects to be healthy enough to play football early in the summer. No team took him in the NFL Draft and as of yet he has not signed a free agent contract in that league.

CFL preseason games begin late this month and the regular season starts in mid-June. Before it concludes in November, Kongbo could be a part of it.

Winnipeg went 10-8 and reached the playoffs in 2018.

“Obviously, getting hurt, tearing your ACL puts you on the sideline for a while,” Kongbo said. “Just the opportunity is all I was looking for.

“For me, I felt like the game was taken away from me (because of the injury). So, just to have an organization that is confident enough to select me in the first round and believes in what I do and the skillsets that I have… it’s a great feeling. I’m ecstatic, I’m happy and I’m just ready to get to work.”



