Finnish Lineman Chris Mulumba To Join University of Colorado Buffaloes

AFI | American Football | 01/07/2017

Finnish defensive lineman Chris Mulumba has had an adventurous year. In December 2015 Mulumba was chosen as a Northern California Junior College all star playing with the Diablo Valley Vikings and offers started to come from multiple division 1 schools.

The 6’4″, 270 lb Mulumba, who was born in Helsinki, Finland but whose parents moved to Finland from the Congo, had an outstanding season with Diablo Valley. As a sophomore in 2015 he led DVC with 63 tackles, had nine tackles for losses and four sacks in 10 games. He was a first-team All-Bay 6 League selection that season when he was a teammate of Kyle Trego, who signed with CU and was a sophomore defensive back for the Buffs this past fall. He played his freshman season at Chabot Junior College in 2014 where he posted 35 tackles, four tackles for a loss and had one sack. He will have two years to complete his two remaining seasons of eligibility. Mulumba will join the Buffaloes practices in early January.

University of Colorado Buffaloes head coach Mike MacIntyre:

“Chris is excellent defensive end and outside linebacker. Strength and his first steps in pass rush are really good. We are happy that we got him playing for us.”

Although Mulumba had been listed to attend the University of Central Florida in the spring, he ended up spending the fall in California. Needless to say his is happy with this final choice:

“I am very exited on this opportunity. Next year we will see Finnish ”sisu” in big arenas! Go Buffs!”

Mulumba did not play football in high school, but he did wrestle and was a Finnish state champion in 2009. He is a four-time Finnish national judo champion from 2009-12 and he was a Scandinavian champion in 2010. He played football for the Finnish champions the Helsinki Roosters in 2012, a founding member of the American Football Association of Finland (SAJL – Suomen Amerikkalaisen Jalkapallon Liitto).

His defensive line coach for the Buffaloes is Jim Jeffcoat, who won two Super Bowl rings with the Dallas Cowboys and recorded 102.5 sacks in 12 seasons.