Houston-area DE/LB Kelechi Anyalebechi eyeing up Toledo visit

HOUSTON, Tex. -- Kelechi Anyalebechi is a football player’s football player.

For all the muscle he carries, he looks nearly as wide as he is tall. For that reason, among others, he’s spending his senior season as a defensive tackle rather than his preferred defensive end/outside linebacker position. To his credit, he’s making it work, but it seems to be coming at the cost of advancing his recruitment further than where it was by summer’s end.

“I would rather play outside linebacker,” he said. “With my rushing technique, I have a good get-off, and playing at 240 (pounds), I’m playing out of position but I’m making it happen. I feel like schools are looking at me based on what my film is now, not knowing that I play other positions.”

He’s not upset about making a sacrifice to help his team, but some of the schools that he included in his Top 8 - which he released at the end of August - were included with the hope that a strong senior season would be enough to turn serious interest into offers. That hasn’t kept him from staying upbeat, however, and he will be playing college football somewhere, it’s just a matter of what he and his family feel is the best situation for him after taking his official visits.

One of the schools in that category is Central Arkansas.

“Right now they’re liking Central Arkansas a lot, but they think we should all go see more schools,” he said. “They don’t want me to go a school without knowing if I had a better opportunity or not going to another one.”

Perhaps that opportunity comes at Toledo, who gave Anyalebechi his first offer.

“I feel like they have a good program,” he said. “I’ve researched all my schools, looked at what I want to major in, and I like Toledo a lot.”

As the only FBS school that has offered Anyalebechi to-date, a positive visit with he and his family would make the Rockets the presumptive favorite. He still has plans to visit with some more local FCS options like Liberty and Sam Houston State, but said that distance isn’t a major factor in his consideration.

“I don’t mind what school I go to as long as it’s fine with my parents,” he said.

Anyalebechi is in a bit of a tough spot mostly because physically, he’s a textbook tweener. Generally, he’s a shorter prospect when it comes to what’s usually sought-after in players at his position(s), but he certainly makes up for it with his power and his ability to move his stout frame. As far as his recruitment is concerned, the deck is stacked against him in terms of being able to show coaches what he’s capable of in the spots he’s better-suited to play, but the team that lands his strength and versatility could come away with a diamond in the rough.