Elic Ayomanor's NFL Draft

Deerfield alumnus Elic Ayomanor ’22 was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round of the 2025 National Football League draft on April 26. Previously, he played for the Stanford Cardinals. His selection marks the second time in four years that a Deerfield alum has been drafted to the NFL, with alumnus Hunter Long ’17 drafted in the 2021 draft. 

Ayomanor, a native of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, began playing football when he was 13 years old and was immediately hooked, much preferring the sport to hockey. Choosing to pursue football by continuing his education in the US, he spent his sophomore year at The Peddie School in New Jersey. 

He eventually transferred to Deerfield Academy as a new junior, joining Deerfield’s Varsity Football and Track & Field teams. 

“We knew he was going to be special,” Varsity Football Coach Brian Barbato affirmed in an interview with the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “He’s fluid and has a skill set that he has continued to lean into, work on, and develop…[Deerfield] was his studio to work and improve. He spent countless hours on the field, on the turf, with our jugs machine, playing basketball, doing all the things you need to do to get better…He wants to be great.” 

Mr. Barbato mentioned how Ayomanor’s humility and authenticity impressed those around him. 

“We would show up to colleges. Beforehand, coaches would ask how tall he was,” Mr. Barbato said. “It’s amazing how many guys saw him in person and were in awe. In a day and age of under-delivering, he always over-delivers. He says he’s 6-foot-2 and he’s 6-foot-2 and a bit. He says he’s going to run a 4.5, and he runs a 4.44. He just always over-delivers.”

Unfortunately, Ayomanor’s football career at Deerfield was disrupted twice. The COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on interscholastic sports in his junior season, and a season-ending PCL tear cut his senior season short. English Teacher and Varsity Track & Field Coach Andy Stallings, who taught Ayomanor in his Think Slow: Poetry Now class, mentioned how Ayomanor had stayed committed to his training and rehab, eventually making a comeback from his injury. 

   “[Being injured] was really hard for him, like it is for anybody. He struggled with that—didn't show it very much, but wrote about it in class,” Mr. Stallings said. “Just a couple of months later, at the track championships, he was the athlete of the meet, set two meet records, and won another event while only jumping twice. That’s obviously a story of physical capacity and growth, but I think [his real growth] was just the regaining of confidence after a major setback in both years.”

Ayomanor saw much more success in his Deerfield Track & Field career, though his remarkable athleticism and dedication had already allowed him to run outstanding times on the track before his time at Deerfield. 

“He came as a junior already having had a pretty illustrious track career up in Canada,” Mr. Stallings said. “[Track] wasn’t his priority here—like is the case for many football-track athletes—but he was totally dedicated to it in season…I think Elic could be an Olympic athlete on the track, and he would agree with that, [but] he would say that football was just in his blood. Once it gets in there, you can't get it out.”

“It wound up that his work with the track team played a big part in his going to Stanford to play football,” Mr. Stallings said. “He ran times for us that, once he ran them, [most college] coaches were ready to offer. That happens a lot in [Track & Field] if you're dedicated to it.” 

Mr. Stallings added that Ayomanor was motivated by a sense of duty to his athletic talent. 

“I think he was motivated by winning, but I don’t mean that in a shallow way. He had this unshakable sense that I could put him in anything, and he was going to win,” Mr. Stallings said. “Whatever it takes, he was going to get it done. And that’s partly because he had incredible athleticism, but that’s not enough… I think [his] motivation to win was more like an inner feeling of needing to uphold the ability that he had.” 

Ayomanor’s work ethic matched that sense of responsibility, and his attitude inspired and elevated his teammates as well. 

“Everything he did, he tried. He was the hardest worker on the team. Again, he could’ve won without the hard work, but he was the hardest worker every day,” Mr. Stallings said. “ That’s what his presence was like on the team: someone who was there to work hard, share it with everyone, and do good. The success of the team really mattered to him.”

Moreover, Ayomanor’s intense curiosity, both on the field and in the classroom, was what set him apart. 

“I saw right away that he was a baller,” said Kwame Osei, one of Ayomanor’s trainers in Canada, in an interview with ESPN. “What sets the good from the great apart is the appetite to learn more…everything I taught him, he soaked in, and just asked the next question.”

Mr. Stallings also noted his curiosity in the classroom. “I tell this story all the time. Kids in my classroom notice the dictionaries,” Mr. Stallings said. “Every day, literally every day, when I walked into class, [Elic] was reading the dictionary.”

Ayomanor had asked how he could improve his poetry at the start of the year. 

“I said, ‘Well, you’ve got your words—you could read the dictionary.’ And he literally just did it,” Stallings said. “He actually became quite a good poet, starting from nothing. When he graduated, he asked me if he could have that dictionary, and I gave it to him. He took it to Stanford. It’s awesome.” 

Ayomanor formed a close friendship founded on curiosity with History and Social Sciences Teacher Julia Rivellino-Lyons, who came to know him in one of her US History classes. 

“He was a friendly, soft-spoken, curious kid who liked to ask ‘why’—a major reason for his winning the Calculus Prize during his senior year,” said Ms. Rivellino-Lyons. “He even asked ‘why’ about using the active voice in a Zoom extra help session one evening, when I encouraged him to revise the passive voice in his essay. I laughed aloud when he asked for a reason, as no student had ever asked me what was better about the active voice.”

Ms. Rivellino-Lyons added that Ayomanor was always curious about history, philosophy, and poetry at Deerfield and at Stanford. 

“[Ayomanor] asked for some Marx when he felt he needed to know something about Communism, ordered a collection of 100 stories, each of 100 words, that I’d mentioned, and was glad to receive a book of poetry that I sent by Terrance Hayes, who spoke at Deerfield a couple years ago,” Ms. Rivellino-Lyons said. 

Despite his short time at Deerfield, Ayomanor’s character and dedication have left a lasting impression on those around him. 

“At Deerfield – as everywhere, I imagine – Elic was a loyal friend, a graceful athlete, a committed student, and a reliable front-row attendee at School Meeting,” said Ms. Rivellino-Lyons. 

“He impacted this community and my family,” Mr. Barbato said. “My kids are always talking about Elic. He set a high bar here. The touchdown catches, the big plays, they’re all important. Where these kids go and how they impact the community they’re in are more important. That’s something that Elic epitomized. The character he has, who he is in the classroom…people loved teaching him.”

Mr. Stallings also affirmed his confidence in Ayomanor. 

“I have utter faith in Elic—[not just] as an athlete…—but [from] having taught him in the classroom,” Mr. Stallings said. “We’re all capable of making great mistakes, but the combination of a strong work ethic, a full sense of self, and curiosity…[means that] he’ll do what he feels like he needs to do, and he’ll do it well.”

Mr. Stallings said he hopes Ayomanor will become an educator after he retires from the NFL. “It may not be teaching. It could be coaching. Who knows—whatever he decides is right for him,” Mr. Stallings mused. “But he’d be cut out for that kind of role where his goal is to nurture and inspire other people.”