Turning a passion into a business: Former Jaguars player opens car shop with friends
Former Jaguars defensive tackle Eli Ankou opened a new car repair shop in Jacksonville with two friends who all share a love for cars. Former Jaguars player Eli Ankou and his friends, Brandon Avila and Chadd Eaglin, have opened Down South Power, a car repair shop in Jacksonville. The idea came to fruition after Ankou, who now plays for the Bills, expressed his desire to add more value to his life other than football. The shop offers services from car maintenance to performance mods on race cars. Despite being co-owners, Avilas still works on cars.
Опубликовано : 4 недели назад от Alessandra Pontbriand в Sports
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Back in 2017, the Jaguars were nicknamed “Sacksonville” for their fierce defense. One of the defensive tackles on the roster was rookie Eli Ankou. He stayed with the Jags for three seasons.
“Being around a solid group of guys kind of gives you that effect of feeling at home,” said Ankou, who now plays with the Bills. “Once I lived here and really got entrenched into the community, especially the car community, I really did feel at home over here.”
Ankou plays in Buffalo now. Over the past eight years he has played for 10 teams, but none of them felt like home. Part of his love for Jacksonville is credited to the city introducing him to the local car community.
“I really got into cars back in 2017,” Ankou said. “It became more of a thing for me, but once I went to my first car meet and got to know a few of my now friends, it was pretty much a wrap after that point.”
Ankou says cars are an outlet for him.
“I’m kind of at that point in my life where I want to add more value to my life obviously other than football,” Ankou said.
That’s when the idea began — to turn a hobby into a business. Back in 2019, Ankou and a few of his friends came up with an idea to open a garage. That dream eventually turned into reality. Ankou, along with co-founders, Brandon Avila and Chadd Eaglin opened Down South Power, a new car repair shop in Jacksonville.
“They came up with this idea of wanting to do a shop, which I’ve always wanted to do for over 20 years now,” Avila said.
Added Ankou: “We do a bit of everything from your performance mods on race cars. You want to do repair, maintenance, oil change, alignments. You can get your race car in here or you can get your grandma to come in and get an oil change on her minivan.”
Avila is a mechanic. That’s how he met Ankou. Now a business relationship has transformed into co-owners. Even in his new role, Avila still works on cars.
“We can do diesel, we can do gas engines, we’ll do electrics here soon,” Avila said.
Down South Power started with three friends who had a passion for cars.
“Just to be at where we’re at now, it’s kind of surreal,” Ankou said. “To be able to make a business out of something you enjoy so much.”
It’s now turned into so much more than the work done in the back of the shop.
“This shop really is my pride and joy,” Amkou said. “I take great pride in it. Just like I do with football. It’s a little bit of a personification of the person I am today.”