Outside The Comfort Zone The Norm For Buffs' Afolabi Laguda
August 18, 2015 | Football
BOULDER – For Afolabi Laguda, joining the Colorado football team was just another way to step out of his comfort zone and catapult himself into an unfamiliar environment. He's taken the step before, making a difference in his new surroundings in a variety of ways.
Laguda, an Atlanta native, enrolled at CU in January after being recruited by coach Mike MacIntyre to help bolster the Buffs' defense. He's already made a move up the Buffs' "pencil" depth chart, as he entered fall camp listed second behind Evan White at free safety and third at cornerback.
“CU is a different landscape from home in Georgia and Atlanta,” Laguda said. “I feel like this is a great experience, a great opportunity to venture out here.”
The 6-1, 200-pound defensive back originally traveled west of the Mississippi when he enrolled at Butler Community College in Kansas during the summer of 2013. Although far from home, Laguda was able to thrive at the junior college level, earning honorable mention in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.
After playing one season at Butler, Laguda was recruited by MacIntyre's staff. Laguda graduated in December 2014, allowing him to enroll at CU for the spring semester and take part in spring ball.
But the move to Boulder was vastly different for Laguda, and this time he was even farther away from home.
“Every transition is difficult,” Laguda said. “But I love it, I love the adversity, I feel like it builds my character.”
Laguda has always tried to differentiate himself by embracing adversity and committing to a goal to be above average. In high school, he and some of his friends created a group called “10-20,” signifying that they would judge themselves on a scale of 10 to 20 instead of 1 to 10 because, in their eyes, 10 is just average.
“We don't try to strive for 10,” Laguda said. “We try to strive for 20. Strive for 20, be a 10-20 guy – that's what we try to be. I fell in love with the movement, I'm 10-20 for life. It's just a group of young men trying not to be average, trying to be uncommon, like coach Mac says.”
Indeed, before Laguda joined the Buffaloes program, his new head coach had been preaching about concepts Laguda and his friends had found on their own: the need to be uncommon, giving the extra effort, going above and beyond that which all competitors put forth.
“Every day I'm going to try to give it my all until I collapse on the field,” Laguda said. “That just has to be your mindset, that's what great players do. Great players are on 20, they are uncommon, so I'm trying to bring that to my life. I'm trying to make myself something special every day.”
Laguda is always striving for greatness on the football field with a desire to out-will and out-work his competitors. However, “10-20's” primary focus has been rooted in being uncommon in a different way.
The group of friends share a passion for photography and a freedom to express themselves. In addition, photography was a means to avoid some of the troubled areas of his Atlanta upbringings and keep Laguda and his friends on the right path.
“We do photography, it keeps us out of trouble,” Laguda said. “It keeps us focused and just doing the right thing. People love when they see people trying to do positive things, so that's what we try to do.”
Making an impact in people's lives is something Laguda does on a daily basis, especially when he is back home in Atlanta, where he serves as an ordained youth minister at Prayer Group Church.
Laguda's father is a minister at the church, and Afolabi's faith stems from him.
“It all started with my father,” Laguda explains. “He put that believer spirit in us, growing up in the church.”
Laguda recalls many Thanksgivings and Christmases where the family would attend church three times in one day. It was something no one complained about; rather they enjoyed doing it and embraced what their father was teaching them.
“My dad just always led the way,” Laguda said. “And then I kind of got my wings on my own and started talking to kids.”
Laguda said athletics helped to “propel” him in his ministry as local kids would seek him out because of his involvement in sports and looked up to him. He embraced that role and wanted to help as many kids as possible by teaching life lessons through sports and hard work.
“I feel like that is a great thing,” Laguda said. “You can see a kid's life change, and you can see that you actually had an impact on the kid's life. I take pride in that. I just love doing it, and I just love being able to reach out to kids.”
Before every practice Laguda will read Psalms to himself as a type of spiritual ritual that helps him get his mind “right” and focused on being the best he can be.
Laguda is now in a place where he is looking to learn from others around him. He praises his teammates for embracing him and helping him through his latest transition.
“I feel like I'm never alone,” he said. “I always have a teammate with me. Even when I walked around campus when I first got up here I wasn't alone because my teammates kind of propelled me, they wanted me to know that you're not alone through this.”
Those interactions have carried over to the field, where Laguda has welcomed the tutelage of not only the secondary coaches, but players such as White and Tedric Thompson, both of whom have already garnered Pac-12 playing experience.
“I'm just a newbie,” he said. “But I know we're on the rise, I believe in coach Mac, and coach (Jim) Leavitt, and what the rest of the coaches are saying. I know they're doing great things, so I'm just trying to get on board with them.”
Laguda is on board and his teammates appear to be as well, all hoping to make this season as unique and “uncommon” as the story Laguda brings with him to Boulder. If all goes as planned, it might just rank as a 20 on a scale of 1-10.
