Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka made quite the impression on the NFL stage in his rookie year in 2025.But the Ohio State product doesn’t just think it’s his purpose to help his team reach its Super Bowl goals — preaching his faith is high on his priority list as well.Like many in the NFL, Egbuka uses his platform on the professional level to share his Christian faith, something he said he found five years ago at a point in his life where he needed it.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMToday, if you go to his Instagram page, you’ll see his name is “Christ Follower,” and he explained to Fox News Digital how his faith drives him on and off the field.”To put it simply, it’s such a big part of my life because of what Jesus has done in my life, and I know that he offers the same for every single person,” Egbuka said over Zoom after helping USAA with its “Huddle UP For Hurricane Prep” by building disaster kits and educating his fellow Tampa Bay citizens about hurricane safeguarding.”He kinda met me where I was five years ago now, which seems crazy to say. I’ve been walking with Him ever since.”FAITH ON FULL DISPLAY DURING NFL DRAFT AS ATHLETES NOT AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT GODFive years ago, Egbuka was just a freshman at Ohio State, hoping to make an impact for the Buckeyes. As he continued to grow across three more years of college football, he ended up helping the Buckeyes win a national championship during the 2024 season.At the same time, he said he started to find “peace” and “joy” with his faith and God, which he still feels today.”The sense of identity that I have that I didn’t have before. There’s a lot of things in my life and a lot of ways I was battling mentally that He pulled me out of,” Egbuka explained. “That’s stuff that goes unnoticed. That’s stuff behind the curtains that people don’t see every day because we put on these masks, put on these faces [and] facades.”But deep down, everybody deals with stuff. It’s life. It’s tries all of us. There’s trials and tribulations that come every single day, and we can do our best to stand true and hold strong. At the end of the day, we’re human. We can only do so much to hold ourselves up when it comes to a point we make it to the end of ourselves – that’s where I was when God met me.CHARGERS’ JIM HARBAUGH LOVES SEEING NFL STARS BEING OPEN ABOUT THEIR FAITH: ‘IT’S INSPIRING'”Just being able to preach about Him, use my platform to spread the Gospel. Just the hope that there is in Jesus is what I feel my purpose is.”Entering the NFL community, Egbuka noticed others like Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins and many more sharing their faith as well.”I think it’s a blessing and privilege that we have to be able to be so open,” Egbuka added. “Obviously, it didn’t always be like that, but even nowadays in different countries, you can be murdered and killed for professing your faith and everything
Bucs’ Emeka Egbuka, whose Instagram name is ‘Christ Follower,’ explains how faith helps drive his career
