Lions player earns praise for standing up to former classmate’s bully

Kayode Awosika helped lead the Detroit Lions to a 42-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks in his first start of the 2024 NFL season.

The interior offensive lineman also earned a big win on social media, as a tale of him standing up to a bully during his high school days went viral on TikTok.

It all started with a video shared by Peyton Morris that captured the attention of Lions fans. Her post showed David Montgomery’s game-opening touchdown run and then a close-up of her face after it with the following caption:

‘When you’re a Seahawks fan but the guy from high school that backed you up against a bully is on the Lions.’

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Naturally, that led Lions fans to wonder which player Morris was referencing. The video was viewed more than 1 million times which prompted her to make a follow-up video that revealed it was, in fact, Awosika, as at least one astute commenter had guessed.

Morris went on to detail that she had attended both junior high and high school with Awosika, and that she didn’t expect him to stand up for her.

‘I was not popular,’ she said. ‘He was one of the star players on the football team and the basketball team, and he had no reason that he needed to be nice to me. But he was. That’s just the kind of person that he is.’

Morris did not provide details about the specifics of the situation, but went on to say that she would be a lifelong fan of Awosika. She also said she was ‘excited’ watching him play on ‘Monday Night Football’ against the Seahawks.

‘It just makes me so happy when good things happen to good people,’ she said. ‘He deserves all of the success and I will always root for him.’

Awosika, 25, broke into the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Buffalo in 2021. He joined the Lions in 2022 and has appeared in 29 games (six starts) since coming to Detroit.