Big play from an unlikely source — England
One of the plays of the day came from an unlikely source.
Linebacker Mapalo Mwansa, the Panthers’ English exchange student, forced a fumble during a kickoff coverage drill.
It was a huge moment for the 21-year-old, who can stay here on the practice squad with a roster exemption since he’s part of the league’s International Player Pathway. (You can read his full backstory, and it’s inspirational, here.)
“That was big,” Mwansa said as he left the field, with a huge smile on his face. “Now just have to keep working, keep learning, keep stacking days.”
He’s been playing football for months, not years, and after his early work came as a pass-rushing edge player (because of his speed), the Panthers shifted him inside to linebacker (because of his size, since he’s 6-2, 230). That’s right, they gave a guy who hadn’t played the sport until around a year ago the most complicated position to learn. Good luck, Maz.
But where he can make a name for himself is on special teams, where he can take advantage of his speed (he ran a 4.45-second 40 at a CFL combine). And plenty of players have made long careers out of that alone.
He’s still swimming as hard as he can in the deep end of the pool, but making a play on this stage was big for him.
Source link
