Working as a bank teller in Albania, Gjon Sokoli could not afford to buy his 5-year-old son a bicycle like the one belonging to the neighbor.

So the wise father hatched a plan to buy the bicycle and give it to his son with an ultimatum: Kristjan had 24 hours to teach himself to ride or else it went back to the store.

Totally foolproof. Except ...

"I go to work 7 a.m. and come back 6 p.m.," Gjon said. "My wife tells me, 'You want to see your son on the bike?' He comes riding from the front to backyard. Kristjan said, 'I don't want the bike to go back.' I can't believe it. I said, 'You keep it.'"

Thus began Giants defensive end Kristjan Sokoli's journey into the family business of beating odds and maximizing opportunities, much like his parents did in fleeing the only home they had known when the Albanian Civil War ravaged the coastal southern European country.

"Kids 10-17 years old, everybody had guns," Gjon said. "They shot people like they shot the birds. I was scared. My decision to bring my family to United States saved my life. It was The American Dream. Everything I find better and better and better."

Gjon first arrived by plane in New Jersey in 1997, sleeping in a different basement every night and scraping together savings from roofing and construction jobs to bring over his wife in 1999. Their two sons joined in 2000, and the eldest boy learned English after six months in school.

The bike stayed behind.

"I've always been the type," Kristjan Sokoli told NJ Advance Media, "if I want to do something I'm not like, 'Let me look into this.' I'm all about it."

The next challenge will be Sokoli's greatest yet.

From his new home in Bloomfield, a 9-year-old Kristjan became a Giants fan and wore a Jeremy Shockey jersey to school. From that same spot, he watched last fall as the NFL played on without him after his release from the Saints in September.

Sokoli, 26, signed with the depleted Giants two days before the 2017 season finale and stuck around on a non-guaranteed Futures contract through offseason changes to the coaching staff, defensive scheme and roster.

The former sixth-round draft choice of the Seahawks will be part of the 90-man roster as training camp opens Wednesday, but the ultimate goal is to be one of 53 who survives preseason cuts Sept. 1.

"I feel a bit like an underdog. Nobody really knows me, but I'm very OK with that," Sokoli said. "I'm confident. I've been waiting for this opportunity for a while."

Albanian roots vs. football roots



As sweat dripped off Sokoli's 6-foot-5, 300-pound frame and pooled at his feet last week after an intense pre-camp workout at TEST Football Academy, he was reminded of his blood.

Sokoli's mother, Gjyste, remembers a time of her son's tears, too -- back in the early days of assimilating to new surroundings.

"It's a culture shock," Sokoli said. "Growing up in Albania, things were a little more serious and I had to mature faster. Here, it's a little different: Not only the language, but the way people interact and act. But you adapt."

Sokoli keeps an Albanian flag scarf draped across the dashboard of his truck and still speaks the language, honoring his believed place as the first native of his country to play in the NFL. The Giants are his fourth team since appearing in one game as a rookie in 2015.

"After my mom left, I lived in the capital of Albania with my cousins for about a year," Sokoli said. "I was the younger kid, so my grandma was spoiling me. She would sneak me into the backyard and be like, 'Here, I got a banana for you.'"

Convincing his parents to let him play football was its own banana peel. He didn't join a team until seventh grade, and the sport didn't come as easy as ... well ... riding a bike.

"It was a rude awakening," Sokoli said. "The way I imagined football would be, it was nothing like it. I tried to play quarterback or receiver. They put me at left guard. I remember saying to myself, 'I am definitely the worst kid on the field right now.'

"Football is one of those sports that when you first do it, it is so uncomfortable. If you don't give yourself a chance to get through that discomfort, you never figure out what you could be."

Sokoli credits his cousin, Edmir, for buying him new equipment and opening a tab at a nearby deli so he could gain the necessary weight to withstand practices and workouts under Bloomfield High School coach Mike Carter and trainer Andre Reid at Pinnacle Fitness.

"The way he's kept developing, developing, developing is simply refusal to take no for an answer," Carter said. "The physical part was easy for him, but he liked watching film and doing all things you have to do to improve. A lot of what he does is for family pride."

But two hairline wrist fractures - one on each arm - suffered as a high school player didn't help his argument with his parents, his candidacy for all-state teams or his recruiting profile.

The college scholarship he kept mentioning -- the one his parents' own experiences said never to believe possible -- seemed to be slipping away.

"I just watched football to support him," Gjyste said. "Too dangerous. One time I said to him, 'When are you stopping football?' He said, 'I'm never going to stop. I'll break all my body.' We prayed for him."

With Rutgers offering only a preferred walk-on spot, the University at Buffalo called with an answer just before National Signing Day.

Sokoli committed on the spot, without knowing Buffalo's exact location in New York or his academic plans. He became his nuclear family's first college graduate.

"My wife and I can't believe that he got a scholarship free," Gjon said. "It's hard to explain how much love he gave to us. At first, I don't believe it is true. Then, I said, 'This is America.'"

Home base

In the era of sports specialization, Sokoli's quick learning showed up again when the Seahawks moved him from defensive line to offensive line.

Whether it worked in favor of Sokoli - extending his career when so many others are short-lived - or against him - preventing his full development on defense - might never be known.

Two-way NFL linemen are a scarcity, but the Seahawks have found some success with conversions.

"If that kid wants to do something, he'll just do it," Gjon said. "It's hard to stop him."

But when the offensive line-needy Giants worked out Sokoli last October, he took a risk. The Colts and Saints had tried Sokoli at offensive line, and his inconsistent pass-blocking seemed to be holding him back.

"I told them, 'I'd really like if you gave me a shot on the defensive line because that's where I feel more comfortable,'" Sokoli said. "They know they can throw me on O-line if it's needed in an emergency. I still have faith in what I can do. But I say this whole-heartedly: I'm a defensive lineman by nature."

The Giants enter training camp with starting and backup jobs up for grabs on the defensive line.

Long a point of organizational pride, pass rush will be a concern until a few relative unknowns step up, and defensive coordinator James Bettcher is fond of ends who have experience as inside run-stuffers.

"I think the scheme is really suiting for me," said Sokoli, who played nose tackle in a 3-3-5 defense at Buffalo. "It lets me get off the ball and attack. I get to be more physical and take advantage of my explosiveness."

With a strong performance in the preseason, Sokoli might find himself home again.

"This is our home base," he said of New Jersey. "It's pretty surreal to get out of practice and hop on (Route) 3 West and see a lot of folks at home."

One of Sokoli's cousins manages the State Street Grill in Bloomfield. Another operates ANT Global construction company. Another (Edmir) is an aspiring MMA fighter.

For Kristjan?

"Me, I liked lawyer," Gjyste said, breaking into a laugh. "My husband liked doctor. Or soccer."

They ended up with something even more definitively American.

"It shows you how crazy this life is," Sokoli said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would get to live in America, let alone play professional sports."

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook.