David Ojabo: From Nigeria to Aberdeenshire to second round NFL draft pick

(CNN)David Ojabo hangs up his phone and lets out a guttural roar of relief and joy.

His circuitous route to the NFL -- which began in Nigeria, had stops in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and Michigan -- finally has come to an end in Baltimore.

With the 45th pick of the 2022 draft, the Baltimore Ravens had selected Ojabo, the 6-foot-4-inch, 255-pound outside linebacker from the University of Michigan.

The emotional exclamation of happiness from Ojabo upon being selected bore a little extra oomph due to the trials and tribulations he's had to face along the way, most notably tearing his Achilles just weeks prior to the draft.

Although some suggested the injury might have affected his draft stock -- he was predicted by some experts to be a first-round pick -- in falling to the second round, the Ravens might have pulled off a masterful coup, given the wonders of modern science and recovery schedules.

And for a player looking to find his way in the league, it couldn't have been a better fit for Ojabo. His high school teammate, Odafe Oweh, was selected in the first round of last year's draft by the Ravens, and the team's new defensive coordinator, Mike Macdonald, was Ojabo's defensive coordinator at Michigan.

As Ojabo told CNN Sport, he's a "destiny child."

"Everything that happens in this life to me, it's not me," the 22-year-old said. "I'm just living out my script.

"So from where I was 'supposed' to go, that's not my destiny. I'm supposed to go here evidently. What are the chances that coach Mike (Macdonald), all of them come in one year, we go crazy in Michigan, win the Big Ten and then, the next year, I go to league and I follow him.

"It's not by accident. So I don't have any worries in this life, man. I just live it day by day."

So much already achieved by a young man who only started playing the sport five years ago.