Vol Club Confidential: Felix Okpara
From Nigeria to Knoxville. Tennessee big man Felix Okpara has seen a lot over the last several years in his basketball journey. He joined Vol Club Confidential sponsored by Knoxville Smiles to talk about playing on Rocky Top.
“It’s been fun,” Okpara said. “I feel like it’s had its ups and downs. By the grace of God I’m able to be here playing at a prestigious college and being able to document my journey. Not a lot of kids can come from a different country and tell their story.”
Okpara had played little to no basketball when he arrived in the states back in 2018. He had predominantly played soccer growing up at 6-foot-6 back in those days.
“I just love to block shots,” Okpara said. “And just seeing how your hard work can pay off. I just started playing basketball for not to long and it was just constant work and having good people around me telling me to put in this work it’s going go pay off. At first, I didn’t believe it, but I had to put my trust in it and after a couple of months I started to see big progress. I fell in love with that.”
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Watch the full interview below.
Up Next: Tennessee vs. Georgia, Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET
After two road games this week, Tennessee returns home to host Georgia Wednesday, an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Food City Center. The Vols go to Vanderbilt on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network) and host Mississippi State on January 21.
Mississippi State starts a tough four-game stretch that continues with a road game at Auburn on January 25, Kentucky at home on January 28 and Florida at home on February 1.
Auburn will be the new No. 1 team in the country when the rankings update on Monday. Last week Kentucky was ranked No. 6, Florida was ranked No. 8 and Mississippi State was ranked No. 14.
