Amen Ogbongbemiga Talks About Making the Chargers' 53-Man Roster

Tuesday was final cut day for the NFL teams to get down to a 53-man roster. There were multiple Pokes who made rosters, including the trio of drafted rookies, Chuba Hubbard (Panthers), Rodarius Williams (Giants) and Tylan Wallace (Ravens).

One signing which surprised some people was linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, an undrafted rookie free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers.

“At the end of the day, that’s something that I couldn’t control,” Ogbongbemiga said of not getting drafted. “I trained my ass off for the process, I think I did pretty well in college as well. I feel like I did everything I could, and that’s all I could do. When [I didn’t get drafted], that hit me differently. I stayed humble about, I just put my head down and I was like ‘Imma have to get to work,’ because no one has time to be feeling sorry for themselves and nobody’s going to feel sorry for you cause that’s life. You’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do. I set a focus, I made a promise to myself, and I just went out there and I made it happen and I’m thankful.”

Amen played in two preseason games for the Chargers, recording four total tackles and nearly intercepting a pass in the first preseason. However, he did do anything in the second game as he sustained an AC joint sprain, forcing him to miss the third and final game.

That just goes to show you just how hard he worked in practice and impressed the coaching staff.

Amen spoke with the media shortly after learning he had made the 53-man roster, but the first person he told was his brother, Alex.

“My brother because he’s been there throughout this whole process,” said Amen. “He trained me when I went back for the July break, and we got after it. I was up in Canada working, I was running the mountains and stuff and it was smogged out because there was a forest fire in the province next to me, so I couldn’t breathe. I had my helmet on dying out there, but I knew it was all for a reason. I just woke up every day and got after it, attacked each and every day and here I am.”

Amen finished his Oklahoma State career on a high note as he was tabbed a second-team All-Big 12 selection and a Team Captain as voted on by his teammates. He started every game his senior season and recorded the second-most tackles on the team, 81, just one tackle shy of tying Malcolm Rodriguez with 82.

He also recorded 5.0 tackles for loss, including 2.5 sacks, three quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.