Hakeem Adeniji


Hakeem Adeniji is an American football guard for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He played in college at the University of Kansas. At Kansas, he was a two-time All-Big 12 selection, making the 1st team in 2019 and 2nd team in 2018.

High school

Adeniji attended high school at Garland High School in Texas. In high school, he had initially committed to play at the United States Air Force Academy. However, he failed to receive a medical waiver to attend due to an allergy to cashews. After failing to receive the waiver, he committed to the University of Kansas.

College career

As a freshman, Adeniji became a starter immediately, starting all twelve games. Throughout his college career, Adeniji showed durability, not missing a single game in his career due to injury. By the final game of his senior year, he had been on the roster for 48 games and started in all of them. In his junior and senior years, he helped pave the way for running back Pooka Williams Jr. to rush for over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. For his efforts, he was named 2nd team All-Big 12 as a junior and 1st team as a senior.

Professional career

Adeniji received an invite to the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine. He played tackle at Kansas, although NFL Analyst Lance Zierlein said he believed Adeniji may have to move to guard in the NFL.
Adeniji was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals with the 180th overall selection in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.