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Emeka Megwa, once a highly sought-after running back recruit, has resurfaced at Eastern New Mexico after a career plagued by multiple knee injuries. The former University of Washington player is now getting a chance to carry the football consistently for the first time in years.
A 6-foot-2, 235-pound back from Fort Worth, Texas, Megwa was a four-star prospect with a long list of scholarship offers. This season for the Division II Greyhounds, he has recorded 63 rushing attempts for 289 yards and three touchdowns.
However, the team has struggled, sitting at 0-6. The Greyhounds are coached by Art Briles, who is also attempting to rebuild his coaching career after being fired at Baylor amid a scandal.
Megwa's journey has taken him from Washington to Oklahoma to UNLV and now to Eastern New Mexico. As a senior at Timber Creek High School, he tore his ACL during the preseason, underwent surgery, and was immediately brought to UW for rehabilitation and to enroll in school, reclassifying his academic standing.
Before the injury, he had chosen the Huskies over Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, and Arizona State. CBS Sports broadcast his commitment live to a national audience. Overall, he received nearly 40 offers, including from Notre Dame, Oklahoma, LSU, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Florida.
Megwa played three seasons at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth, where he rushed for over 3,000 yards and 45 touchdowns. He was part of a private-school state championship in 2020 and earned first-team all-state and all-district honors. As a sophomore in 2019, he ran for 1,786 yards and 27 touchdowns.
He spent one season with Jimmy Lake's Huskies and another with Kalen DeBoer's team, but suffered another ACL tear during winter workouts. He later filed a civil lawsuit against UW's coaching and medical staffs, alleging negligence in his care.
Megwa then spent two seasons at Oklahoma, where he appeared in two games and carried the ball once for 6 yards. Last season, he transferred to UNLV, where the Rebels attempted to convert him to linebacker.
At Eastern New Mexico, he is playing steadily for the first time since high school. Two weeks ago, he had a college-best 93 yards on 14 carries in a 56-43 loss to Sul Ross State. This past weekend, in a 61-55 loss to Western New Mexico, he gained 41 yards and scored a touchdown on 11 carries. He is averaging 4.6 yards per carry and 48.1 yards per game.
Megwa is far removed from his time at UW, where he mostly rehabilitated his knee over two years following surgeries and never practiced. His perseverance to play again, regardless of the level, has been remarkable.
Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades, and he has covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he has attended the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and countless Final Fours and bowl games.