MORGANTOWN — Fatorma Mulbah just looks like a football player. AT 6-4 and 306 pounds, he’s easy to pick out of a crowd, and even easier to envision lining up in the trenches on the gridiron.
That must have been exactly what Mulbah’s high school coach at Susquehanna Township in Harrisburg, Pa. thought the first time he saw Mulbah as well.
“I didn’t know anything about football,” Mulbah said, “but I went to school (the head coach) saw me and said ‘yeah, you’re playing football.’”
Mulbah, now a senior defensive lineman at WVU, didn’t just not anything about playing football, he barely even knew what football was.
Mulbah and his family moved from Liberia, West Africa to the United States in 2014 after his father won the Diversity Visa Lottery. Mulbah said his father, Stephen Mulbah Sr. worked for the coast guard and entered the lottery to try and get his family away from the ebola outbreak.
“He took the step forward to get our family here, so I appreciate him for that,” Mulbah said. “Around that time there was ebola, so getting my family out of there was a big step forward for us not having to deal with that. It was huge. The opportunity you have in the US is like no other. I’m very appreciative.”
Mulbah said immediately upon reaching the United States his life would be very different.
“I was around 12 years old when I moved here and I remember on the plane looking out the window and seeing all the lights,” he said. “We landed in JFK Airport and I remember seeing all the lights of New York.”
Mulbah’s family initially settled with one of his uncles in Hershey, Pa. before moving to Harrisburg for good. That’s where we was talked into joining the football team.
“I didn’t know anything about football when I was back in Liberia, I didn’t even know what the sport of football was,” Mulbah said. “I had to learn everything. My high school coach did a good job of teaching me football. I wasn’t good when I first started, I had to learn from scratch and get better.”
It didn’t take long for Mulbah to take to this new sport. He developed into one of the top recruits in Pennsylvania, putting up 12 sacks as a senior. He signed with Penn State, spending three seasons with the Nittany Lions without seeing much playing time.
He transferred to West Virginia following the 2022 season, looking for a place that could offer him more playing time while also staying close to his family.
“I picked West Virginia because of the culture we have here and the coaching staff,” Mulbah said. “It’s not so far away from home. That was a huge part, having my family be able to come to games and watch me play.”
His parents, Stephen Sr. and Konah Mulbah, who work as a truck driver and a nurse, respectively, still live in Harrisburg with his two younger brothers, who now play football themselves at Trinity High School.
In a scheme that fits him better at WVU, Mulbah played in all 13 games for the Mountaineers last season, recording 25 tackles, three tackles for loss and a half sack.
“It was a big adjustment. I had a lot to learn just how stuff is,” he said. “Coming here, the guys accepted me with open arms and good relationships.”
Mulbah started WVU’s season opener against his old team on Saturday, recording four tackles in the loss.
In 10 years, Mulbah went from not even knowing what American football is to playing it at the highest amateur level and getting his college paid for to boot. After graduating with a degree in supply chain management from Penn State, Mulbah is working towards his MBA at WVU.
Mulbah and the Mountaineers host FCS opponent Albany this Saturday (6 p.m. ESPN+).
