Five Star LB trying to narrow it down

There is no question that one of the west coast’s best prospects this season is five-star defensive end Phillip Mbakogu (6-3, 260, 4.8) from Hayward, Calif. Mbakogu stock keeps getting hotter as his written offers stand at around 15, but he has several more verbal offers.

The written offers are from the likes of Cal, USC, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, ASU, Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, LSU and Notre Dame.

“I’m in the process of trying to narrow things down,” Mbakogu said. “I’m going to take everything into consideration. The coaches, facilities and academics are all going to play a part in my decision.”

“The school I choose should be strong in the subject I end up majoring in,” Mbakogu said. “I’m probably going to major in business, or something to do with computers or the sciences.”

“I also want to play for a team that wins and goes to Bowl games,” Mbakogu said. “I want to win a couple of rings during my college days.”

Mbakogu is starting 2003 the way his 2002 season ended as he was recently named the Defensive MVP at the Cal Bear football camp. Mbakogu was selected area and league Defensive Player of the Year for his junior season performance. He was also selected junior All-America and all-state 2002.

Mbakogu racked up 87 tackles and had 17 sacks while having to fight through double teams all season long.

In an earlier interview with Rivals Hayward Head Coach Casey Marino said, “We move Phillip all over the place. A lot of our opponents wait to see what side of line Phillip lines up on and they run their plays accordingly.”

“The biggest compliment that Phillip received and because he’s quiet humble kid the only one he will ever talk about was when Concord (Calif.) De La Salle head coach Bob Ladouceur said that their entire offensive scheme consisted of running away from Phillip’s side,” Moreno said. “That is quite a compliment coming from the coach from arguably the best high school team in history.”

“Phillip is deadly on passing downs and just as deadly against the run,” Moreno said. “He causes a lot of problems for an offense.”

“On every down Phillip is doubled teamed and still it doesn’t work,” Moreno said. “The opposition doesn’t have a clue on how to stop him.”

To give you an indication on Mbakogu’s upside, one D-I program told Rivals that they felt Mbakogu was among the top three players in the country at any position.