12th Man Nana Boadi-Owusu inspired his mother on the football field long before his Aggie colleagues

NaNa Boadi-Owusu’s recent selection as Texas A&M’s 12th man surprises no one more than his mother, Akua Owusu.

She remembers walking through Boles Middle School in Arlington, Texas, just before her oldest son’s seventh grade year to pick up his schedule and coming across a table labeled “track and field.” When the coaches at the table asked the mother what sport her son wanted to play, Akua instinctively answered “soccer.” After all, that was the national sport in Ghana, where she was from, and it was the sport NaNa and his younger brother PK played growing up, first in Virginia and now in Arlington.

“The coaches said, ‘No! No! You have to play football. Just give us two weeks with your guys and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to play anymore,'” Akua recalls with a laugh. “I didn’t like it. I screamed the first time I saw someone get tackled and they basically banned me from their games for most of the time because I couldn’t handle it.”

But the story doesn’t end there. Akua couldn’t bring herself to end NaNa’s football career before it even began. She quickly began to take advantage of the sport, which she found scary, especially because of the fear of brain trauma.

NaNa was a “fat” boy, according to his mother. He described himself as a soccer player with the build of an attacking player. Because of this, he was demoted to goalkeeper during most of his soccer days as a youth. Soccer training quickly helped NaNa shed the pounds. And boost his confidence. He began to dress better. Akua was thrilled to see the cargo shorts and baggy shirts replaced by form-fitting clothes, including suits for game days, when he left middle school and went to Arlington Martin High School.

Despite her fears, Akua did what good mothers do: she put her children’s wishes before her own.

“I saw how much work he put in and how his body and confidence changed because of it. And I knew I had to support (football),” she said. “They started playing well even though they never played, and the coaches started paying attention to them.”

That willingness was put to the test when she received a call from the Martin coaches after NaNa broke his leg during a game in Houston. Knowing his mother, NaNa immediately picked up the phone from the athletic trainer and told her, “Don’t get upset, I’m fine.”

“I took him to the orthopedist and asked him if he would play football again after the injury,” she said. “He said, ‘Of course, Mom. I’ll play as soon as I’m healthy again.'”

Akua knew the truth – her son loved football. So she evolved. NaNa and PK started watching football on TV with her to explain the rules and how the game works. NaNa, who played defensive end at Martin, told her to look for the player in a frog stance, so Akua still calls him her little frog. When NaNa was chosen as team captain at Martin, Akua started showing up at more games. Instead of screaming, she now cheered. And at the right times.

“They basically turned my perception of the game on its head,” she admitted. “Now I’m a real football mom cheering. People look at me now and say, ‘You? A football mom?’ But it comes from the love for my boys and their love for the game.”

NaNa fell in love with College Station during a class trip during her sophomore year of high school. Education is important in the Owusu household. Akua has two degrees. Her mother was an administrative assistant at a university in Ghana, where her stepfather was a professor. Her husband, James, is an engineer. Despite her fear of concussions, NaNa was allowed to play football, but only if he got straight A’s in school.

NaNa also wanted to play college football. In a questionnaire administered by then-Martin head coach Bob Wager, NaNa was asked what his plans were after college and if Wager could help him. NaNa said he wanted to join the Texas A&M football team, where he had already been accepted as a sophomore. Wager called an old friend – the late Texas A&M defensive line coach Terry Price.

“I told TP that NaNa will add value to the locker room,” Wager said. “You never have to worry about what he does off the field. He will be a great representative of your football program in the classroom and in the community.”

NaNa’s teammates clearly agree with his old ball coach. He was voted 12th Man in 2024, arguably the highest honor a walk-on football player can receive in college football. Akua didn’t know much about the tradition and its meaning. NaNa kept it in the dark until he won the election. When she heard the news and its meaning, she cried. But not like she did when he broke his leg.

“We have evolved a lot as parents,” Akua said of her and James. “Our culture forced us to choose between school and sports. For a long time we thought he wouldn’t be able to excel in school if he was distracted by sports, but that wasn’t true. That’s where sports help you become more well-rounded. We learned a lot from how he balanced education and his love of sports.”