Along with his three siblings, Acho was raised in Dallas by his parents, Sonny and Christie Acho. The entire family has been involved in African missionary work since the children were young, and the parents are on the board of directors of the Living Hope Christian Ministries and its Operation Hope, which provides medical services in Nigeria. Dr. Sonny Acho has also served as pastor to the Living Hope Bible Fellowship Church and as a mental health professional in North Dallas. Acho graduated from the St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas, Texas, where he lettered in football, basketball and track and field. As a senior, he was tabbed the state's top linebacker by Dave Campbell's Texas Football and one of the 150 top recruits in the country by ESPNU. In track, he recorded personal bests of 57-4 and 177-3. Widely recruited, he chose to attend the University of Texas. One of his siblings, Sam Acho, also attended St. Mark's and the University of Texas before a career in the NFL.
College career
Acho played in 48 games during his 4-year career at Texas, including 26 starts. As a senior, he was consensus first-team All-Big 12 linebacker. He won the 2010 Arthur Ashe Award, was named to the 2011 AFCA Good Works Team, and was a three-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection. He was also a finalist for the 2011 Lott Trophy for college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year, Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and Wuerffel Trophy. He led his team in tackles in 2011 and, over his 4-year career, recorded 278 tackles, 41 TFL, eight sacks, seven forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, two INTs, 13 PBU and 26 pressures. He graduated in December 2011 with a degree in sports management.
Professional career
He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He was placed on injured reserve after a leg injury and missed the entire 2012 season. On April 11, 2013, Acho was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for running back Dion Lewis. He was released on September 2, 2013. On September 10, 2013 Acho was signed to the New York Giantspractice squad. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Acho off the Giants' practice squad on October 21, 2013 after Jake Knott was injured, and he saw limited playing time in 6 games, getting his first NFL tackles. He was made gameday inactive once Mychal Kendricks and Jake Knott were back. Acho was waived by the Eagles on December 17, 2013, before the season ended, but signed to the practice squad the next day. He was resigned to the team on January 6, 2014 during the off season; released on August 30, 2014 and then added to the Eagles practice squad the next day. Acho was promoted to the active roster on September 9, 2014 after Najee Goode was injured. Following DeMeco Ryans season-ending injury in Week 9, he was thrust into a prominent role, along with Casey Matthews. He played in 14 games and recorded 31 tackles. In 2015, after being waived as part of the cuts to 53 due to a thumb injury, Acho was signed back to the Philadelphia Eagles on November 9th after Jordan Hicks was placed on Injured Reserve with a shoulder injury, but he saw no playing time and was released on November 24, 2015, making him a free agent.
Media
While still hoping to be signed, Acho took a temporary job in 2016 as an analyst for the Longhorn Network and then transitioned to a fulltime analyst that fall. In 2018, he was promoted to ESPN2’s college football programming. Acho was one of four hosts of "Cover Four" which airs on the official website of the Dallas Cowboys, and is one of four anchors at the Texas Gameday Desk on the Longhorn Network. On June 10, 2020, it was announced that he would be leaving ESPN to join Fox Sports and co-host the afternoon studio show “Speak for Yourself.” He is also a baritone and piano player, as his rendition of The Eyes of Texas was featured in Ricky Williams' A Football Life. In early summer 2020, Acho began a series of Youtube interviews entitled, "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man", hoping to address issues of race in America. His guest in the second episode was the actor Matthew McConaughey, where they discuss their respective upbringing. McConaughey closed with a quote from Langston Hughes' poem, Let America be America Again.
Personal life
Acho is currently an analyst for Fox Sports and he formerly worked for ESPN. His older brother Sam is in his 9th NFL season and is a linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On January 9, 2015, Eagles fan Hannah Delmonte, contacted Acho via Instagram. Delmonte asked Acho to escort her to her junior prom if she received 2,000 retweets on Twitter. Acho felt 2,000 retweets was too low, so he increased it to 10,000 retweets and gave Delmonte one week to meet the goal. Less than three hours later, Delmonte posted a picture showing that she'd received over 10,000 retweets, and Acho accepted the invitation. On February 20, 2015, Emmanuel took time off from his graduate studies at the University of Texas and flew to Purcellville, VA, to personally accept Hannah's prom invitation, nicknamed 'Promposal' by the media. On May 9, 2015, Emmanuel escorted Hannah to her junior prom in Purcellville, VA. Acho has continued his family's medical missionary work, writing in a 2018 tweet: "Everybody wants to be the #BlackPanther until it’s time to actually save lives in Africa. My family's annual mission trip to #Nigeria COMPLETE! We treated over 1,800 patients, performed 162 surgeries & tried to love like Jesus does."
