Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick has been in a relationship with MTV host and ‘Hot 97’ DJ Nessa Diab since July 2015. Diab, who is of Egyptian descent, was photographed with Kaepernick at a fundraising event in February 2016. This was the couple’s first official public appearance together.

Kaepernick is deeply religious. A practising Lutheran, his faith is documented in the body art that he has collected all over his upper body, including the Bible verse Psalm 18:39, set on a scroll on his right shoulder.

Colin Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 3, 1987, to Heidi Russo, a 19-year-old white girl, and an unknown African-American man. Being single and impoverished, Russo had to place him for adoption. He was five weeks old when he was adopted by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, a white couple. Through them, he has a brother, Kyle, and a sister, Devon.

He spent the early years of his childhood in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, before moving to Turlock, California with his family when he was four.

He was educated at John H. Pitman High School. Nominated for All-State selection in his senior year in all the three sports he played (football, basketball and baseball), Kaepernick was also a 4.0 GPA student. He graduated high school in 2006.

Despite his stellar record on the field, Colin Kaepernick garnered little to no interest from Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs across the country. One of the reasons for this was his build in the senior year: he was 6' 5" tall but weighed a mere 170 pounds.

Even Nevada, the only university that offered him a football scholarship, was tentative, fearing he might one day leave the program for baseball. Eventually, Kaepernick accepted Nevada’s offer and signed in February 2006.

Major League Baseball’s website named him as one of the draftable prospects in the class of 2006. As a college junior, he was picked by the ‘Chicago Cubs in the 43rd round of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2009, but he chose to remain with Nevada and continued to play football.

He played 11 games in total as a freshman, scoring 19 passing touchdowns, three passing interceptions, and 2,175 passing yards with 150.8 passing efficiency rate.

In his sophomore season, he was the year’s only NCAA quarterback to pass for 2,500 or more yards. He played the ‘Humanitarian Bowl’ despite an ankle injury and created a record with 370 yards passing.

Colin Kaepernick captained Pitman to their first-ever playoff victory and was conferred with the ‘Most Valuable Player’ award (MVP) by the ‘Central California Conference’ in 2005.

He was a two-time California all-State baseball pitcher.

He received the ‘Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year’ award twice (2008 and 2010).

In 2008, he was the MVP of the ‘Humanitarian Bowl’.