ExpandNeff Giwa in action for Munster U18s in 2022: the player today stands at 6ft 7in and weighs more than 138kg. Photograph: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Neff Giwa in action for Munster U18s in 2022: the player today stands at 6ft 7in and weighs more than 138kg. Photograph: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
At one point as a teenager, Neff Giwa had to train with the senior team at Cashel RFC because his peers couldn’t lift him at the lineout.
Looking at his dimensions, it’s not difficult to see why. According to the South Carolina Gamecocks website, Giwa is 6ft 7in and weighs in at more than 138kg.
The name “Gamecocks” doesn’t scream rugby. Instead, after featuring as a secondrow for various underage Munster teams, the Tipperary native is the latest Irish recruit to the gridiron, moving to Columbia, South Carolina, to try his hand at America’s oval ball game.
The recent surge in men from a GAA background earning college scholarships ensures that Ireland is no longer a backwater when it comes to American football. The number of collegiate athletes originating from these shores has passed 20, while Charlie Smyth of Mayobridge has gone as far as the NFL itself. All of these recent cases, though, are kickers.
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Giwa is no kicker. Not at that size. He is a prime candidate for the offensive line, the group of behemoths tasked with using strength, speed and hand-skills to stop equally large men from reaching the quarterback.
Giwa is therefore a rare phenomenon; an Irish non-kicking American football prospect who has never played a down before heading stateside.
Future 1st round pick @NeffGiwa very proud of you @PPIRecruits pic.twitter.com/7usUba2rs3
— Brandon Collier (@BCollierPPI) March 29, 2026
In another world, Giwa – whose given first name is Oluwanifemi – could have been back in Ireland this weekend. The college football season kicks off with North Carolina taking on Texas Christian University at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. The Tar Heels, coached by Bill Belichick, were one of a number of schools to make Giwa an offer.
Add to that list Miami, Southern Methodist University, Tennessee and James Madison University. He also visited Georgia and Michigan State. That’s a lot of schools sniffing around an Irish man who never played a down of competitive football.
The reason? Giwa’s athletic profile is coveted by those who want to keep their quarterback on their feet. Height and weight certainly. Wingspan too. When visiting Miami, his arms were measured at 36 and three quarter inches. For an NFL lineman, 35 inches is considered good. Long arms and big hands make life easier when looking to shove into defenders and keep them in front of you.
Speed is another factor. In the most recent NFL combine, a physical showcase where college prospects entering the draft look to show off their athletic traits, one test is the 40-yard dash. The fastest man in this year’s group for Giwa’s position was Logan Jones from Iowa University. It took him 4.9 seconds to run the 40 yards and he was subsequently taken by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the draft. Players picked in that range tend to make $8-13 million in their first year.
Giwa’s 40-yard time? 4.88 seconds.
None of these figures surprise those who came across Giwa in his rugby days. He started playing with Cashel RFC, his place of birth after his parents relocated from Nigeria. Giwa progressed largely as a club, rather than a schools player. He did finish his secondary education at Rockwell College but did not join early enough to satisfy the 20-month rule dictating how long a pupil must be enrolled before they can compete in the Senior Cup.
Charlie Smyth of Mayobridge has gone as far as the NFL itself as a kicker. Photograph: Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Charlie Smyth of Mayobridge has gone as far as the NFL itself as a kicker. Photograph: Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
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“The way he moved, his athleticism, his height compared to everyone else, he was so far ahead of others his own age,” says Brendan O’Connor, a Munster player development officer who knew Giwa from Cashel.
“I have a picture somewhere where he’s miles taller than everyone else. You’d nearly go, ‘He’s definitely overage’.”
Giwa played rugby and soccer as a child, while athletics and basketball also featured. He was involved in the East Munster set-up, Munster Under-18s and the province’s Club Select Programme.
“He could move on top of everything,” says O’Connor. “He wasn’t just a big lad who ran through everyone – he was very quick off the mark.
“Neff also had range and long levers. Lineout-wise from a rugby point of view, he would snatch everything.”
All of which leads to a rather obvious question. The conversation on Irish rugby needing to increase the range of athletes at its disposal is never far away. On height and weight, there aren’t many comparable to Giwa within the Irish system.
Oluwanifemi 'Neff' Giwa in action for Munster against Leinster during an Under-18 Interprovincial match at Donnybrook in 2022. Photograph: Nick Elliot/Inpho
Oluwanifemi 'Neff' Giwa in action for Munster against Leinster during an Under-18 Interprovincial match at Donnybrook in 2022. Photograph: Nick Elliot/Inpho
Physical stats can fluctuate depending on the source, but according to the British and Irish Lions website, Joe McCarthy is 6ft 5in and 112kg. Edwin Edogbo, according to Munster, is 6ft 5in and 127kg. Arguably the two biggest men in Irish rugby are at least two inches shorter and more than 10kg lighter than Giwa, who doesn’t appear to have sacrificed speed in his pursuit of lineman weight.
As far as Irish rugby is concerned, is this one who got away? There wasn’t necessarily a lack of interest from rugby’s powers that be. “When you see a fella walk through the door at that size, you’re always interested,” says O’Connor. For whatever reason, Giwa was not a Munster academy entrant after school. From there, he largely fell out of the sport.
Which is South Carolina’s gain. After linking with Brandon Collier, a European-based scout who looks to get foreign prospects scholarships in America – much like Tadhg Leader with Irish kickers – Giwa was noticed by coaches when videos of athletic drills were posted on social media.
Given a choice of schools, Giwa opted for South Carolina. It remains to be seen how much action he will see this year as he learns the technical nuances of his new sport. But his body looks to have brought the necessary tools that can’t be coached.
How far will he go? In a way, it’s unfair to speculate. Collier, though, no doubt looking to inflate the value of his man with some social media promotion, was in no doubt: “Future first-round pick.”