From Apple Valley to the NFL: Bilhal Kone’s long football journey arrives at the draft

Bilhal Kone’s feet spell out his motivation.

Kone, the Western Michigan cornerback who first starred at Apple Valley High School, has written “Ball For Hamza” on his cleats throughout his winding journey to this week’s NFL draft. The Kone family mantra was established when his youngest brother, Hamza, was diagnosed with cancer before dying in 2016.

“Everybody wants to know about who he is when they see it on the shoes,” said Mohamed Kone, Bilhal’s older brother. “It just means more to us when we get on the court or the field. We’re not just representing us. We’re representing Hamza and our family.”

Memories of Hamza’s unbridled joy for sports continue to fuel both Kone brothers as they traverse the globe in their 11-year-old brother’s name. Bilhal worked his way onto NFL radars after starting off at an Iowa junior college. Mohamed won a basketball state title for Apple Valley and now plays professionally overseas.

“That’s my little rock,” Bilhal said of Hamza. “Doing everything for him. Every game, I have a prayer for him. My energy is still through him. … When I’m on the field, I feel him with me.”

Family has been a powerful source of inspiration for Bilhal, who was raised by his mother, Amy Camara, after she emigrated from Ivory Coast. Her work ethic, and Hamza’s memory, are among the reasons Bilhal didn’t give up on his childhood dream of playing in the NFL despite needing three college teams to get there.

“It helped me be who I am today,” he said. “Not going D-I right out of high school, going juco — that’s where you really learn your purpose and why you’re here.”

“I know I’m here for a reason,” he added. “I didn’t come here just to stop now.”

Bilhal was entering his freshman year of high school and Mohamed was a senior, when Hamza died from leukemia after a long struggle in which he overcame a previous bout with cancer and a heart transplant.

Hamza especially loved basketball and LeBron James, a passion that drives Mohamed’s hoops career from Bemidji State to professional teams in China and Australia.

The Kone brothers prominently display “Ball For Hamza” on their social media feeds and on their cleats and sneakers, continuing their motto chanted by peers in the Apple Valley student section during Mohamed’s title-winning senior season in basketball.

“He’d brighten up the room just off his energy and enthusiasm for sports,” Mohamed said. “It’s something that keeps us going every day. We want to make him proud no matter what.”

How their mother, Amy, persevered has stuck with them, too. She used to run her own hair braiding business before moving to an office cleaning job. While raising a family, she worked overnight shifts that kept her out of the house from 4 p.m. until after 1 a.m.

Moving from Iowa Central Community College to Indiana State and then Western Michigan didn’t seem like such a big deal to Bilhal to keep his NFL dreams afloat.

“It’s just been the chip I’ve had on my shoulder from my family,” he said. “Coming from a first-generation family like mine. We just always had hard work, determination … it’s not easy to come over here and start a whole new life. I’m always up to go anywhere because I know my mom could do it.”

Both brothers say they couldn’t have reached these athletic heights without each other.

Bilhal and Mohamed talk every day — including brotherly barbs and trash talk — despite playing careers that rarely have them in the same time zone. In China last fall, Mohamed said, he set alarms in the middle of the night to watch Bilhal’s Western Michigan games.

He said he will also tune into the draft from Australia.

“You don’t get those games back,” Mohamed said. “We always talked afterward about how he played, how he felt. I’ll definitely be tuned in when he gets drafted just to see his name.”

Before Bilhal Kone developed into a ball-hawking cornerback, he began his three-year varsity run at Apple Valley as the starting kicker. As a sophomore, he already had one of the strongest legs on the team (he also competed in soccer, basketball and track). He worked his way up to booting 45-yard field goals and consistent touchbacks.

“He put it in the end zone every time he kicked the ball,” former Apple Valley coach Chad Clendening said. “If he would’ve just focused on kicking, I think he would’ve been a D-I kicker.”

Kone kept kicking and punting through all three years at Apple Valley, and even had a brief stint punting for Iowa Central Community College.

But at some point, he put his foot down.

“It was fun, but I know what I really love,” he said. “I like to be in the box, the guy that makes the highlight plays.”

Kone’s love for making highlight-reel plays came from the many he produced as a junior and senior at Apple Valley, where he eventually served as a starting cornerback, receiver, kicker, punter, kick returner and punt returner. He rarely left the field — and rarely needed to.

His former high school coach still recalls a touchdown Kone scored on a punt return during his senior season in 2019.

“He literally made all 11 other players miss,” Clendening said. “You could count them: one, two, three – here comes another. That’s when we kind of went, ‘Wow, he’s turning a corner.’”

Kone lacked the academic qualifications for D-I interest out of high school, which sent him to Iowa Central in Fort Dodge, with a population of roughly 25,000. There he built up his grades and football résumé, earning second-team all-conference honors in back-to-back seasons. His passion for the game was tested, and he passed.

“Do you really love football?” Kone said. “If you guys have ever been around a juco campus or seen one of those games, you’ll understand that. It’s not a place where you want to mess around and have fun. You want to get in there and get to work. You’ll stay and blossom into something from that.”

During Kone’s eight-game stop at Indiana State, a D-I FCS program, Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor saw a long-limbed, 6-1 cornerback with hard-to-find instincts for breaking up passes.

“He was one of the first, if not the first, recruits who committed when I took the job [in 2023],” Taylor recalled. “When he came on his visit … I said, ‘Man, you look like those guys I’ve been around at the NFL level.’ … Very athletic, long [arms], good cover skills.”

Kone needed time to adjust to the complexities of Western Michigan’s defense, Taylor recalled, but once he did, his growth accelerated. During his first four starts at the end of the 2023 season, Kone had a game-sealing interception against rival Central Michigan.

But NFL teams didn’t ask about him much until last fall, when he led the Broncos with nine pass deflections during 13 starts. He also had two fumble recoveries and another interception.

“An afterthought at the beginning of the year, and then he played really well and by the end of the season, scouts I talked to had him somewhere in that third- or fourth-round range,” Taylor said.

Kone earned invites to the top NFL evaluation events — the Senior Bowl, an annual all-star game in Mobile, Ala., and the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. He met with the Lions, Raiders and Patriots, among others, while proving his speed with a 4.43-second time in the 40-yard dash in Indy.

Kone said that he became “a little bit” of a Vikings fan while starring for Apple Valley, but that he tries to model his game after players such as Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson.

When Johnson matches up with Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson, “that’s a game I’m always watching,” Kone said.

Kone’s supporters in Minnesota will be watching him wherever he goes.

“It’s not really a surprise to see where he is, but the route he took to get there — it’s not the most common,” Clendening said. “It’s a great story and I think encouraging to any young player that isn’t getting the attention or the D-I offers. There are multiple ways to get there.”

On the Access Vikings podcast, Ben Goessling, Andrew Krammer and Emily Leiker discuss GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s draft philosophies and wrap up their NFL draft position previews. Watch:

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