Other than a 6-foot-2, 220-pound body loaded with quick-twitch muscles, Franklin Agbasimere seems about as unlikely of a person to play football as anyone.

But now he’s a three-star outside linebacker and a member of Missouri’s 2015 signing class as an intriguing developmental project, the type of player that has thrived for the Tigers under coach Gary Pinkel.

Born in a small Nigerian village, Agbasimere’s family moved him to Lagos, a port city on the Southwest Coast, to provide him better educational opportunities. He discovered football by watching ESPN, and later attended The Ejike Ugboaja Foundation camp, a charity that helps facilitate high school and college athletic scholarships for Nigerian athletes.

He’d never played a down of football, but impressed scouts. His parents again saw it as an opportunity to improve his education, and in 2013 Agbasimere found himself moving to Montverde Academy, an international college preparatory school about 30 minutes West of downtown Orlando.

“Obviously he came in as a good person, and he has a good character,” Montverde Academy football coach Brian Treweek said, according to the Columbia Missourian. “His physical attributes when he got here, that’s the first thing we noticed when he got here. Now, he didn’t know the game of football very well, but he had all the physical tools.”

By his second season, Agbasimere understood the game enough that his speed and physical mindset took root, earning him the nickname “Smash” and a scholarship offer to play SEC football. Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN all labeled him a three-star athlete with tremendous upside.

Despite playing just two seasons of football, Agbasimere runs a 4.45 40-yard dash, bench-presses 345 pounds and possesses a 40-inch vertical leap, according to Hudl.com. A proven track athlete in high school, Mizzou expects to turn him into a productive edge rusher who can also help in pass coverage.

“At first when I started following college football, the first thing that attracted me to Mizzou was their jerseys,”Agbasimere said. “I really liked their jerseys.”

Able to attend a few Citrus Bowl practices when the Tigers traveled to Orlando, Agbasimere eventually added the team’s camaraderie and a strong business school to the University of Missouri’s attractive attributes.

He surely will redshirt in 2015. Mizzou either can bulk up his frame and have him rush the passer off the edge of the 4-3 defensive line, or keep him at linebacker and let him perform as a speedy terror to running backs. Either way, he’s got the kind of unvarnished and raw athleticism that the Tigers have so successfully developed in recent seasons.

Give him a couple years and Agbasimere could become the next unheralded Mizzou Made standout.

“I’m just going to come in there and try to have fun, play football and just put in my best,” Agbasimere said. “I hope they’re going to like what they see.”