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2023 Joenel Aguero - Safety - Commitment, 7.23
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Samson Okunlola leads surge of blue-chip football recruits from a surprising state
John DiBiaso, the head football coach at Catholic Memorial in Boston, has been a head coach at the high school level for going on 40 years.
This May, he saw something he’d never seen before.
“We had a workout, an after-school workout,” DiBiaso said, “and I had 16 Power 5 coaches sitting in our workout area, our weightlifting area, watching the kids at the same time.
“There were people literally tripping over each other.”
Welcome to recruiting — in Massachusetts.
DiBiaso can’t remember the full list of schools that sent coaches that day to his campus, where he already has three players in the Class of 2023 committed to Power 5 programs. Four-star defensive lineman Boubacar Traore is committed to Notre Dame, and three-star running back Datrell Jones and three-star wide receiver Jaeden Skeete are committed to Boston College. What DiBiaso does recall, though, is that Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Florida, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Rutgers and Maryland all showed up.
“Mass kids have really been quote-unquote ‘the bottom,’ where they’re underlooked, underseen in the recruiting game,” said five-star offensive tackle Samson Okunlola, who plays for Thayer Academy in Braintree, Mass.
“(But) we’ve got some dogs down here.”
And college football programs have taken note of the state not exactly known for high school football.
It’s been an unprecedented year for Massachusetts on the recruiting trail, with the Commonwealth quietly pumping out three top-150 recruits in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports Composite, after producing just one total from 2018 to 2022.
Okunlola, or “Pancake Honcho” as he is called for his affinity for pancake blocks, is the nation’s No. 20 recruit and No. 3 offensive tackle — the highest-rated Massachusetts prospect in the modern era, which dates to 2002. He is fresh off an official visit to Michigan State over the weekend and is down to nine schools: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Penn State.
“Some coaches have said he’s the best lineman in the country. … A couple of coaches have said, ‘Easily, he’s the best. He’s clearly the (best). We’ve seen them all,’” said Thayer Academy head coach Jeff Toussaint.
“There’s definitely never been anything like this.”
Joenel Aguero (St. John’s Prep/Danvers, Mass.), the nation’s No. 34 prospect and No 2 safety, has a final four of Florida, Georgia, Miami and Ohio State, with a commitment date of July 23. He took an official visit to Georgia over the weekend.
And Traore, the nation’s No. 123 prospect and No. 18 defensive lineman, committed to Notre Dame in April after decommitting from Boston College in March.
In all, Massachusetts has six prospects already committed to Power 5 programs, with four-star tight end Andrew Rappleyea (Milton Academy/Milton, Mass.) headed to Penn State, three-star linebacker Preston Zinter (Central Catholic/Lawrence, Mass.) joining Traore at Notre Dame and three-star quarterback William Watson III (Springfield Central/Springfield Mass.) headed to Nebraska. Four-star athlete Ronan Hanafin (Buckingham Browne & Nichols School/Cambridge, Mass.) has offers from Georgia, Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU and others.
“It’s a phenomenon that’s occurring now,” DiBiaso said, “and it’s great for the kids.”
How Massachusetts got to this point doesn’t have one obvious explanation, but coaches and players have a few theories that might explain a surge unlike anything they’ve ever seen.
“I never had guys from Alabama coming up (here) before. Now they do,” DiBiaso said. “Hopefully it’ll continue.”
Theory 1: Weather is less of an issue
DiBiaso can remember the landscape of high school football 20 years ago when, every year around Thanksgiving, high school programs in Massachusetts were at the mercy of Mother Nature.“You couldn’t go out on a field and run. It was either covered in snow or the field was dug up — it was all holes,” DiBiaso said. “You couldn’t train. You couldn’t play games late in the year.”
But now?
“With the advent of these turf fields, I mean, kids can go out and run in January, February,” he said. “Do things out on the field year-round.”
Additionally: “There were no indoor facilities to train 20 years ago. Now they’re all over the place.”
Boston’s snow season started on Nov. 26 last fall, according to CBS Boston — right in the thick of high school playoffs. In the fall of 2020, the city set a record for snowfall in October, when four-plus inches blanketed the ground on Oct. 30, according to NBC Boston. The city’s average high was 51 degrees in November and 41 degrees in December, according to USClimateData.com. The average low was 38 degrees in November and 28 in December.
Turf fields give teams more flexibility to play through snow, which creates more opportunities for players to be noticed by college evaluators if games aren’t canceled as often. Catholic Memorial installed its turf field in 2011. Thayer Academy plays on grass but has access to turf practice fields.
Conditions were clear on Dec. 2, when Catholic Memorial capped an undefeated season and won its first state championship in 43 years. Had the weather been an issue, the turf field at Gillette Stadium would have offered a buffer.
Indoor facilities — which have become must-haves in college football — allow players to train year-round. Catholic Memorial and Thayer Academy have indoor fieldhouses.
Earlier in DiBiaso’s career, his teams would of course hit the weight room regularly, regardless of weather. But there’s something to be said for going through drills and workouts on a practice field to enhance agility or mimic game-like scenarios. DiBiaso can remember a trip to Florida earlier in his career when he realized just how large the discrepancy was between Massachusetts and its counterparts.
“I think Massachusetts historically was behind the rest of the country for a long time in that out-of-season conditioning and weightlifting was probably not up to par with other areas of the country because of the weather,” he said. “Now we have all this (advancement). … You’ve opened a lot of doors for a lot of kids that weren’t there maybe 20 years ago.”
Theory 2: The pandemic may have helped
Toussaint agrees with DiBiaso that Massachusetts recruits are bigger and stronger thanks to new training facilities. But beyond the upgraded resources, he has another hypothesis about how prospects grabbed college coaches’ attention.“I also think that the pandemic (contributed). I know with the Okunlola boys who played for me … they absolutely made the most out of that year,” Toussaint said of Samson and older brother Samuel, who plays on the defensive line at Pitt.
“Once we went into that lockdown, they were just working out very consistently, daily and going to these free workouts that coaches were running at different fields.”
Okunlola, 6-foot-6 and 310 pounds, did not have a football season in 2020 because of the pandemic. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association had an abbreviated season in the spring of 2021, but Thayer Academy is an independent school and had no makeup season.
With more time to spare, Toussaint said Okunlola invested in himself physically, learned new techniques, honed his protection skills and became more agile. He and his brother passed the time by attending the free clinics in the area, then were in top shape by the time elite recruiting camps opened back up. College coaches have told Toussaint that Okunlola is talented enough to play left tackle at the FBS level as a freshman, in large part because of his athleticism.
“Just competing against the best kids with whom they could compete … I think that really gives the coaches who are either there, or I guess watching film of it, a really better idea because they’re going against other top kids in the country, as opposed to whoever they might be going against in their league in high school,” Toussaint said. “I think that part really kind of catapulted them up in the eyes of college coaches.”
Dante Reno, a four-star quarterback in the Class of 2024, plays high school football in Connecticut but is from Fiskdale, Mass., and attended an Elite 11 event in Washington, D.C., last month.
“I think a lot of people are just getting more exposure,” Reno said. “You can get noticed anywhere nowadays. Talent is everywhere. So long as a coach finds you and one coach believes in you, then the rest will follow.”
Theory 3: Prospects know how to promote themselves
Toussaint joked that when the pandemic first hit, much like he and his wife had extra time on their hands because they weren’t eating at restaurants like they used to, coaches had extra time because they weren’t on the road recruiting.Sitting at home, college coaches were more glued to their phones and social media — which gave prospects like Okunlola opportunities to brand themselves.
“I marketed myself pretty well. I didn’t have a sophomore season, so I really had to push myself out on Twitter and stuff,” Okunlola said. “Really post a lot of videos, really try to hit up coaches.”
Okunlola has a series of videos on his Twitter page that document his going through workouts or showing how he has worked on improving body control. Sometimes he’d ask older brother Samuel to film for him. Other times, he’d prop his phone up on his backpack and self-record.
Then he combined his new-age films with old-fashioned networking.
“I still have to hit up coaches,” he said. “I think after Morgan State, my second-biggest offer was Tennessee. And (for) that one, I hit up a player and a player put me through with a coach.”
By promoting himself as an athlete, Okunlola is also giving himself a head start off the field, with early positioning for name, image and likeness opportunities. His memorable nickname has stuck, and coaches at his top schools are playing off it with recruiting graphics. Recently, Okunlola asked his Twitter followers where the best pancakes were in East Lansing, Mich., before his official visit to MSU. The likes of IHOP have to be taking note.
Does Okunlola have any advice for fellow prospects in smaller states?
“Early on in your recruitment, learn how to market yourself,” he said. “Get on Twitter. Learn the Twitter strategies. Comment your highlights under a coach’s post or something like that. Just really start pushing yourself out.”
Theory 4: The rising tide
When Thayer Academy held a showcase for college coaches earlier this spring, every coach who traveled to see Okunlola also got a glimpse of his teammates. The same went for the workout at Catholic Memorial, where Traore is DiBiaso’s headliner but seven of his other players have Division I offers.“It’s kind of like, the rising tide floats all boats,” Toussaint said. “You’ve got a kid like (Okunlola) that everyone wants to see, it makes your school somewhat of a destination for coaches. They want to see, ‘Who’s this other kid? Who’s this other kid catching passes?’ Or, ‘Who’s that quarterback?’”
In-state prospects in the Class of 2024 to keep an eye on include Reno, who has South Carolina as a favorite, four-star offensive tackle Guerby Lambert at Catholic Memorial and four-star offensive lineman Liam Andrews from Dexter Southfield School in Brookline, Mass.
Lambert, the nation’s No. 64 prospect and No. 2 offensive tackle, already has offers from LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State, among others. Andrews, the nation’s No. 88 prospect and No. 4 interior offensive lineman, has offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Tennessee, among others. He recently visited Penn State, Alabama and Ole Miss unofficially.
Toussaint and DiBiaso both hope future high school players are taking note. They see no reason this trend has to slow.
“The fact that kids are getting these offers now, it’s having a positive effect on more kids wanting to play football because they see the opportunities are here,” DiBiaso said. “Traditionally in New England, a lot of kids played hockey because a lot of kids from this area of the country would get hockey scholarships and get drafted in the NHL.
“Now, more and more kids are making it in football. And you’re getting more and more young kids wanting to play.”
Suhrthing
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"Graduated from hungry to greedy"Come on. We all can make a list at this point and come close to a bullseye. In addition to what we have…
- Jayden Wayne
- Jalen Brown
- Samson Okunlola
- Joenel Ageuro
- Jayden Bonsu
- Malik Bryant (Cane)
- Collins Achekempong
- Sharif Denson (A flip could be in the making)
- Reuben Bain
- Monroe Freeling
- Chris Johnson Jr.
- Andy Jean
- Mark Fletcher (A flip could be in the making)
- David Hicks
- StanQuan
- Tommy Kinsler
- Payton Kirkland ()
Side note: some of the Name spellings were butchered during the making of this list.
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I live in Atlanta, so you can substitute friend or coworker for that and I’ve seen it first hand. And for that matter, you can substitute whatever Sec school for Georgia and it equally applies.
I wish you could see the real smile on my face for someone getting that line. It was the first time I ever remember seeing Chris Rock.
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I have known Kyle Hamilton, the former ND safety and recent 1st round pick of the Ravens, since he was 7 years old. And his dad trained both my kids in basketball. UGA came at Kyle with some serious money. Indirectly of course thru Marist high school parents who are UGA alumni. But the number was too big to not have been approved by the school.
To his credit Kyle still picked ND which offered nothing more than a scholarship as he felt the value of the ND degree more than made up for what UGA was offering.
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I asked Leeds this in the food thread, but I did hear a rumor of a UGA perk. Apparently they put a satellite location of Bones in their football facility that opened this year. If it was a Kevin Rathbun steak that may get my signature.
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That's a heck of a perk.
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1murhurricane
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But but two weeks ago he was a lock and no way he would consider anywhere but UGA. Fran is shook haha
moshated305
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SEC having nightmares of that Cane hat on the table lol
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What a time to be a Miami Hurricane fan. God Bless Mario and the Staff!
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Addae is that dude.
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Burricane
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This fills me with joy. The big boy programs are AFRAID
CaneTheGaytors
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I had a conversation with a younger dude that is from Savanah a couple of weeks ago. He went to high school and is childhood buddies with UGA OL Chris Brown.
The conversation of bags came up, and NIL. He told me that his friend was definitely bagged up. Said that that Chris and his family were not affluent before his UGA days, but after enrolling at UGA, he would see him and Chris’s teammates with their Louis Vuitton’s and expensive whips, and knew right away that they had to be on the take.
I was surprised that he was so cool to actually admit it. Also told me that he knew that Miami was gonna be a thorn in their side with Mario at the helm, so not all of them are in denial. There are always exceptions.
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D.L.I.N.K.D.A.GR8
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Im gonna git u sucka... my favorite comedy of all time
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How else would he run his defense unless he's got 8 safeties on the field?
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