The player listed at the top is a good friend of Aho’s, and someone he says will make the NFL soon.

After his one year at NMMI and three seasons at SMU, Leach and other scouts around the league felt there was still more Aho could become if given the chance. So, they spearheaded the charge to have him accepted into the IPP.

The defensive end suffered a knee injury just ahead of roster cuts with the Vikings last year—something he attributed to “my weight and my speed is something I got to work on, to run faster but take it off my joints,” all part of still learning the game of football. Because despite being introduced to the game at 15-years-old, the now 25-year-old points out it was only five years ago before he first received proper football training.

“In France it was a club team,” Aho explained. “Now, it’s getting a little bit more developed. The real start was when I came into the US when I was 19, when you start practicing every day and being in the meeting rooms. Being stronger and faster than everybody else doesn’t, it’s not enough no more. And you got to learn the plays and have understanding about the game. That’s when it became serious.”

With each goal Aho works towards next, his ceiling grows. And while some IPP players arrive to training camps, allocated by the league and needing to learn everything from what a hashmark is to how many points a touchdown is worth, Aho stepped in with a basic knowledge already learned from playing college football. He just needs to be molded.