Toailoa impressed by new offers
Lokeni Toailoa had started forming strong opinions on how he wanted to handle his recruitment.
Then Notre Dame and Oklahoma offered in the last few days and that turned everything upside-down for the 2016 standout linebacker from Rialto (Calif.) Wilmer Carter.
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The Irish and Sooners join Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State on Toailoa's offer list and he said taking a broader look at all the schools recruiting him will be the approach moving forward.
"It definitely really changes up the whole recruiting process and how I'm going to go about making the final decision when the time comes," Toailoa said.
"It just opens up the game now. There are all kinds of different breeds of football other than the Pac-12. It just changes up everything."
The 6-foot, 213-pound inside linebacker is definitely excited about both new offers. It looked like USC and UCLA were the far-and-away leaders in his recruitment but after hearing from Notre Dame and Oklahoma, the 2016 recruit is having some different thoughts.
"Notre Dame came during my second period of school," Toailoa said. "I talked to coach (Brian) Kelly really quickly. They didn't offer me but then I got back to class and my coach shot me a text to tell me they were offering me.
"Oklahoma came to see me as well. I was walking to lunch and coach (Tim) Kish was there. I got an official offer from them, too.
"It's huge. They don't go out offering anybody. They want the best of the best at both of those programs."
Auburn and others have shown more interest recently in the 2016 linebacker. A decision is not expected anytime soon.