Titans sneaky potential starter is spending his offseason doing something you would never guess in his hometown community
New Titans competitor gives back over the summer
One Tennessee Titans player has been spending his offseason in a very unique way the past couple summers: in the classroom. And no, I don’t mean he’s gone back to school to finish a degree. He’s at the front of the class, teaching.
New Titans linebacker Anfernee Orji was on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football this week to talk about his experience as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Rockwall, Texas. Now before you click away because you’ve realized this is about a random player you don’t know, first of all how dare you? This is a heartwarming story, you monster. But more importantly, I’m here to tell you that Anfernee Orji—or Mr. A, as his students know him—is somebody you’re likely to be surprised by the closer we get to the regular season…
Orji was asked on GMF why he’s been choosing to spend his down time from professional football working another job that’s grueling in its own way:
“Yeah, so I always say that I'm odd. I'm an odd person. For some reason, I decided I want to substitute teach because I feel like if I just do a football camp, I can only reach the kids who come to the camp. Which is mainly just male athletes, football players. But substitute teaching, I can reach all kinds of kids.
I can have an impact on more kids lives, like all the girls and the non-athletes, all that. So that's really why I started substitute teaching, and obviously just so I can give back a little bit to the teachers. So if they need a day off, they can just call me. Obviously, I'm just one person. So it's hard to help everyone. But that was my thought process for substituting.”
If Orji’s name sounds familiar, that may be because he played from 2019-2022 at Vanderbilt before joining the Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2023. He led the team in tackles as a starter in both his junior and senior seasons. Of course, a lot of athletes get stereotyped as dumb jocks. But even the football players at Vanderbilt university are extremely bright, so it doesn’t surprise me to hear Anfernee is still interested in academics as a pro ball player.
GMF host Kyle Brandt asked Orji what grades he teaches:
“I've done it all. I've done everything from elementary school to high schoolers, but I feel like I did the most time in middle school. But middle school kids, they're crazy. I'm not gonna lie, especially when they figure out who I am. Man, I couldn't get a break. I couldn't step in the hallway without being bombarded. But yeah, I feel like middle school is what I taught the most.”
The reason Titans fans should keep an eye on Orji this summer is that, well, his coaches can’t stop talking about him. Orji’s tape from his time in New Orleans is actually rather solid—the best from last year of anybody competing for LB2 right now, if you ask expert tape analyst James Foster—and his coaches brought him up unprompted multiple times during OTAs. When we asked about the second linebacker position, the names that kept coming up were 2nd-year players Cedric Gray and James Williams, and then Anfernee Orji.
It certainly caught my attention. So once Orji sets the grade school curriculum to the side and puts his shoulder pads on again here in a couple weeks, pay attention to how he performs…
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