By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)
VANCOUVER — If you could invent a device to measure the collective quickness with which a developing football player grasps the concepts of the game and then proceeds to carry them to the next level, it would be the rare few who would calibrate in the same neighbourhood as Ben Sangmuah.
Just four years ago, back in his adopted Canadian hometown of Scarborough, Ont., a shorter, lighter and slighter version of the UBC Thunderbirds’ rising 6-foot-3, 210-pound fourth-year linebacker was on summer break following his Grade 12 year when he strapped on the pads and laced up the cleats to play football for the very first time in his life.
It’s a scenario meant to offer the proper perspective with which to consider that this past weekend, Sangmuah was one of the top attractions which pulled NFL scouts from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears to Thunderbird Stadium to watch UBC practices ahead of Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. Canada West Conference opener at home to the No. 8 Manitoba Bisons.
His entire football career: One Grade 13 season in the fall of 2021 with the Football North program based out of Clarkson High School in Mississauga, Ont., then the past three at UBC, over which time he has strung together an active streak of 32 consecutive starts in which he has morphed from cornerback to free safety and beginning this year, within the linebacking core.
Born in the fishing port city of Takoradi, in Ghana, on the west coast of Africa, Sangmuah was just four when his family moved to Canada.
He would later run track and play hockey, but somehow just never found a purposeful path to the football field at Scarborough’s Sir Oliver Mowat Secondary, despite the encouragement he got from one of his classmates, current UBC receiver Gavin Owen.
“In my Grade 10 year, I wanted to play, but then COVID hit,” Sangmuah told Varsity Letters. “Gavin was telling me I was pretty fast and that he thought my skills would translate to the football field.”
It wasn’t until after high school graduation, however, that a family member (Leroy Ackom) who was helping to coach at Football North, convinced Sangmuah to give the sport a shot. There, as part of a crash course, he started working out as a receiver before switching to cornerback.
“And then, about a week later, we went down to Georgia for exhibition scrimmages against some teams from down there,” remembered Sangmuah.
“I ended up covering some four-star receivers as a kid that had never played before. That was in my first-ever football game. There was one play where their quarterback threw a fade in the end zone and the receiver I was covering caught the football. I was demoralized. I wanted to quit.”
Football North head coach Larry Jusdanis broke the news to his young player that such moments happened to the best of them, and from that point forward, Ben Sangmuah’s work ethic took over and his football identity seemed to just naturally etch itself in stone.
THE FILM NEVER LIES
Ask UBC recruiting coordinator Shomari Williams what it’s like to watch an 18-year-old’s highlight film, knowing that the subject in question was a complete neophyte, and he’s quick to point out that the good, old-fashioned eye test is, and will always be, in vogue.
“I’ve obviously spent a lot of time watching a lot of film, a lot of high school film, and I think for all the years I have done it, you can just watch a player’s tape and just see the kind of athlete that’s there,” said Williams, who played his college football first with the NCAA’s Houston Cougars, before later helping lead Queen’s to the 2009 Vanier Cup national title as a senior.
“Since I began here (in 2019), (head) coach (Blake) Nill has really taught me that you recruit the athlete first. You find out who they are, then you trust that your coaching staff and all the people in the building can develop the player.”
Sangmuah?
From the moment he stepped on campus with his blank canvas credentials of size, speed and athleticism, he has been the perfect example of what a community of like-minded specialists can do in concert with each other.
“Just seeing Benji’s film back then, he was probably 6-1 then,” Williams said. “You see a long, tall kid that can just really run… and that’s kind of what you remember. You watch film and it’s so raw with technique and movement skills… but you saw the athletic ability just really shine on tape. All of that along with the play-to-play temperament he brought… you just saw all of that potential oozing out of him on film.”
There’s 4.43 40-yard performance he put on for NFL coaches last spring.
And then there’s been Sangmuah’s work ethic in the weight room under strength coach Joe McCullum, showcasing his body’s ability to not only add muscle and mass, but do it without any loss in burst, mobility and speed.
“It’s all credit to Coach Joe,” Sangmuah begins of McCullum. “First year I came in around 165 (pounds), now I am 205, 210. I gained about 45 pounds and without a crazy jump. We did it gradually. I gained all that weight but I have not lost any speed. He built me to where I am. It’s pretty crazy.”
And in the end, enough that when UBC’s official roster was released Monday, Sangmuah was officially listed as a linebacker, continuing a progression from cornerback to free safety in the defensive secondary to a primary role this season lining up in the box, and putting on display a fluid, attack-minded skill set that will call for him to not only make plays inside, but in the open field as well against receivers and tight ends.
“He still has his corner skills, but with his aggression, with his play temperament and his physicality, we think he can mean so much more playing closer to the box” reminds Williams who will also be Sangmuah’s positional coach this season.
IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN JUST FOOTBALL
By Tuesday afternoon, NFL teams will have gone through the painful process of arriving at their final 53-man rosters in advance of the regular season.
Never before in the history of UBC football has the date been more meaningful because, of course, it is expected that both of the ‘Birds starting 2023 offensive tackles — Detroit’s Giovanni Manu of Pitt Meadows Secondary, and Chicago’s Theo Benedet of North Vancouver’s Handsworth Secondary — will head into the season’s first week with the chance to take real game-day snaps.
But more than that, perhaps, from a Point Grey perspective, is the fact that UBC has earned a spot on the NFL’s radar.
And with players like the fourth-year Sangmuah, as well as second-years like 6-foot-7 300-pound offensive tackle Caleb Cunningham and defensive end Deacon Sterna, the reigning Canada West Rookie of the Year, there is genuine interest to the point where Williams remains in regular contact with clubs from the U.S. behemoth.
And if you ask him, the direct by-product of Benedet and Manu establishing themselves with their NFL teams is that it has put the current group of UBC players in a position where their best efforts won’t go unnoticed.
“I think for us, just seeing Theo and Gio going through that process with NFL teams and learning the ropes, for us it’s like ‘Hey man, if you have the athletic ability we can put you in front of NFL teams,’” Williams said of UBC. “Since camp started, over eight to nine days of camp, we’ve had three NFL teams come on campus already to see some of our guys, and we’ve had about seven NFL teams inquire about coming to campus some time this year.”
And, as Williams adds, when UBC players see just what Manu and Benedet have done, they say “…maybe I can get to that level, too.”
For his part, Sangmuah is fixated solely on helping his team be the best they can, aware that the organic byproduct of just such a mindset can only help his own bottom line.
Over the weekend, Sangmuah was more than happy to get some one-on-one face time from the NFL.
“They asked me about my leadership qualities, my personal life,” he said. “Some of the questions were asking me to describe my work ethic, and as a leader on the team, how do you approach guys that aren’t listening. Interesting questions like that.”
In the end, Sangmuah admitted to gaining an even greater confirmation of everything it takes to succeed at the next level.
Ask him about his grounding, and he points to his mom and dad, who raised both he and his younger sister Aliza while building their own careers in Canada following their move from Ghana.
Sangmuah’s father got his MBA at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, fashioning a successful career in the mining industry, while his mother took the necessary courses at U of T to continue working as an accountant upon their relocation to this country.
“It was huge and I understood what they were trying to do,” he says. “It makes me feel like there is always more to do. Every time I feel like I am doing enough, I say ‘No, it’s not.’”
And while Sangmuah has achieved so much over the entirety of his thus far brief football career, one that in measured years is as long as a U.S. high school career, he continues to appreciate that anything he achieves, if eventually afforded an opportunity to establish himself in a pro career, will surely be enhanced by seeing the biggest picture possible.
That much was driven home by just one weekend around NFL scouts.
“They’ll even go ask your equipment manager how you are in the locker room,” Sangmuah said. “They’ll ask your trainers how you are to them.
“When I was younger, when I was in my first year here, I was probably focused on myself a lot,” he continued. “But as I’ve gotten older, it’s just how life works. I think I’m a good person and I hope they are seeing the same thing.”
Roughly translated Ben Sangmuah has already shown a lot, but the best part is that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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