Fast-rising St. Louis DE Moses Okpala hits a dozen offers

St. Louis (Mo.) Ladue Horton Watkins defensive end Moses Okpala came out of nowhere this past fall in his junior season, and has recently been riding a wave of new scholarship offers. Now with 12 offers in-hand, the three-star is starting to formulate his recruiting game plan.

THE LATEST

A native of Nigeria, Okpala did not put on a helmet until his freshman year of high school after the urging of friends and people in his community. He then had to miss his sophomore year after open-heart surgery to correct a coronary valve, but he came back to terrorize the St. Louis area with his combination of size and athleticism this past fall.Iowa State presented Okpala with his first scholarship offer on Jan. 30 of this year, and that opened the floodgates. The most recent offer came from Nebraska on March 5, which brought Okpala to an even dozen schools on his offer list.

IN HIS WORDS

“I know that Nebraska has a very good football culture and they now have the coaching staff from UCF so they are bound for success.

“I’m planning an unofficial (visit) with Minnesota. I talk with one of the Minnesota coaches every week. I look forward to seeing a school with good academic reputation, great coaching staff and overall chemistry.

“I’m going to visit Iowa State soon too. I’m impressed by their team chemistry and belief. They are both good academic schools and they communicate and they care.

“My (visit) list is not concrete yet, but I’ll be visiting some schools and praying to make the right decision for the next phase of my life.”

RIVALS’ REACTION

Besides Iowa State and Minnesota, Okpala said Illinois and Missouri are also priorities among his schools to visit this spring. Missouri has yet to offer, but Illinois offered on March 3 and Okpala already has a good relationship with tight ends coach Cory Patterson, who recently joined the staff after coaching in the St. Louis high school ranks the last few years. This is only the beginning for Okpala as his offer list should continue to grow weekly into the spring and beyond. His name is so new to the recruiting scene and once coaches are able to get into the schools this spring expect his recruitment to go national.