Up Close & Personal: Darkwa Seizes Opportunity to Fulfill Dream

Other than having little interest in video games, Joseph Appiah Darkwa is fairly similar to most of his American peers.

Born and raised in Germany, Darkwa has been focused on family, school, football and working out. That’s what keeps him busy. He also likes watching movies and exploring the internet in his free time. Those interests, especially the latter two, are what helped steer him toward a future with the Nittany Lions. Because there is one other major difference between Darkwa and his future teammates.

Until four years ago, he didn’t play football either. American football, that is. The sport was foreign – enough so that dreams of one day suiting up for a college team seemed impossibly farfetched.

“The first time I saw a football game was in the movie ‘The Game Plan’ with The Rock,” Darkwa said. “That got me interested in playing football, but my parents did not want me to play because it was too dangerous.”

As he learned more about the game, he couldn’t escape the feeling that it could be his niche. So he was persistent with his mom, Regina Amoah, and dad, Isaac.

As a kid, Darkwa played 10 years of soccer, not only a traditional sport of Germany but also of Ghana, his parents’ native country. As he tells it, however, he never found a fit on the pitch.

“I wasn’t really good at it,” said Darkwa, who stands 6-foot-5 and is now approaching 280 pounds. “I don’t know. I think I was too big. I wasn’t really football big yet but I was too big for soccer.”

Darkwa also played pickup basketball with his brother Bernard, who is about seven years older, but he never played for a club, like Bernard did. The court wasn’t his place, either.

When he finally stepped onto the gridiron with the Dusseldorf Panthers, a youth club that was independent from his secondary school, Private Don Bosco Gymnasium, Darkwa found his home.

How did he talk his parents into it?

“I just went to practice,” he laughed. “My friend was playing at the time and he just took me to practice. I did not tell my parents. They kind of knew, but they weren’t really sure.”

Darkwa needed only a few more practices to realize that football was something he wanted to pursue. Eventually, his parents came around, too.

“I fell in love instantly,” he said, “but I never had the dream to play [at an American university] until I saw the opportunity [to] reach that goal.”

That possibility began to seem more realistic last fall. The Panthers had undergone a leadership change before the season, and their new defensive line coach refined Darkwa’s raw ability by teaching him proper technique. The coach also introduced him to Brandon Collier, founder of the network service Premier Prospects International.

Collier had played in the NFL after a college career at Massachusetts. In 2013, he moved to Germany and began to help grow the sport in Europe. Before long, he was helping high school-aged athletes attract the attention of American college football coaches, as his pupils began signing with schools such as Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Rutgers, Temple and Virginia.

Darkwa might be among the best.

“I really believe that he has the athleticism to play in the NFL one day,” Collier said. “He still needs to add some upper-body strength, but once he gets into a weight program, he’s going to cause some problems for people. He can carry 290 pounds and still bring the athleticism that he has.”

That potential helped garner interest from nearly a dozen schools. Towson was the first to extend an offer, followed by Connecticut, Georgia Tech and Virginia. Rutgers was also in the mix, and Darkwa briefly considered joining the Scarlet Knights’ class in December. But he held off and picked up late scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Colorado, Indiana and UCLA. That’s when PSU joined the race.

Penn State assistant Sean Spencer had coached Collier at Massachusetts, so there was already a connection. But the attraction intensified once Darkwa learned of the university and the rest of its coaches.

“First of all, the football is very good,” he said. “Coach [James] Franklin, I saw a lot of videos. I liked Penn State before I visited. Then I was instantly interested.”

His parents were interested, too, as the opportunities that football could provide for their son finally were becoming tangible. They had moved to Germany from Ghana to provide more for their son. Regina retails perfume and Isaac works as a sandblaster, and they’ve always put academics first for their children.

Darkwa also speaks multiple languages. German is primary, but at home the family speaks Twi, a language native to Ghana. He has been speaking English fluently since second grade and also knows a bit of French. Spanish might be next.

This past week, Darkwa attended prom and he’s all set to go academically. However, he’s still waiting to receive a visa, so it may still take a few more weeks before he can officially move to Happy Valley.

Once he’s on campus, he plans to study mechanical engineering. He’s also slated to begin his athletic career as a three-technique defensive tackle. Unsurprisingly, he has high aspirations for both endeavors.

“First of all, I want to get my degree, because that is why I’m coming there,” he said. “and I want to win a lot.”