Recruiting Big Picture: Okunlola's strong visit adds further credibility

Samson Okunlola’s father, Jomel Okunlola, came to the United States from Nigeria 27 years ago with an affinity for soccer and track.

He didn’t know much about football. And he still doesn’t. But does he fully grasp what it means that the top college football programs in the country want his son to attend their universities?

“Yeah, for sure,” Samson Okunlola said, this week, after an official visit Michigan State, the day before an unofficial visit to Georgia, and prior to this weekend’s official visit to Alabama. “He thinks it’s all good.”

Probably because Samson Okunlola is all good, and possibly some day an All-American.

The father’s message to Samson about all of this?

“Just keep working, keep grinding,” Samson Okunlola said. “Always.”

Okunlola, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive tackle from Braintree (Mass.) Thayer Academy, has shaped himself into one of the best offensive line prospects in the country.

Okunlola is ranked the No. 15 player in the nation for the class of 2023 by Rivals.com, and the No. 2 offensive tackle.

He took an unofficial visit to Michigan State in March, and returned last weekend for an official visit.

He plans to take three more official visits in the fall. Which schools are in the running for an OV in the fall?

“Schools like Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Oklahoma and Georgia,” he said.

He drove from Massachusetts to Athens, Ga., with his older brother, Sunny Okunlola, on Tuesday. It was his second trip to Georgia. He visited Athens last year with his other brother, Samuel Okunlola, who signed with Pittsburgh as a defensive end in December.

Georgia and Michigan State are the only schools Samson has visited twice.

Okunlola’s parents accompanied him for his unofficial visit to Michigan State in March. They weren’t with him last weekend in East Lansing because they stayed home in Massachusetts to watch Samuel walk in his high school graduation at Thayer Academy.

For Samson’s official visit to Michigan State, Sunny, age 21, accompanied his younger brother.

“He gave me another set of eyes looking in, in a sense,” Samson said.

What did his brother think?

“Overall, he really liked it,” Samson said. “He also liked how genuine the people were and how real they were and how natural they were.”

What about Samson’s eyes? What did he see during his second visit to Michigan State?

“I really loved it down there,” he said. “It was a great visit.”

What did he like about it?

“Overall, just the people,” he said, “How genuine they were, how cool they were. It was a very good experience.

“When I was there before, I connected well with the players like Kevin (Wigenton), Spencer (Brown), Coach Kap, as well. Real cool with them.”

What did he learn about Michigan State this time?

“Overall, how players get help with the business aspect of life, the educational side, the business program,” he said.

Okunlola is the second national Top 15 player to visit Michigan State in the past two weekends. Michigan State hadn’t had a pair of national Top 15 players visit campus inside of the same 12 months since TJ Duckett and Charles Rogers signed with Michigan State, one year apart, 22 years ago. Having a pair of Top 15 recruits visit within one week is the latest signal that Michigan State is running among the recruiting elites for the Class of 2023.

Duckett and Rogers each signed with Michigan State as the No. 1 player in the country for the classes of 1999 and 2000. Both became NFL First Round Draft picks. Rogers won the Biletnikoff Award.

Michigan State isn’t involved with a recruit of Duckett’s and Rogers’ ranking at this juncture, but the power of Spartan football recruiting is rising with a bullet in the summer of 2022.

Michigan State has received, or is scheduled to receive, official visits this month from 22 players ranked in the Rivals Top 250, plus an unofficial from a 22nd. A 23rd, cornerback Chance Rucker, was a Rivals Top 250 player when he visited in early June, but has since fallen out of the Rivals250.

In the past, getting official visits from five Rivals250 recruits usually marked a pretty good campaign for the Spartans. That’s how many Rivals250 official visitors the Spartans received last year.

Michigan State’s 2022 recruit class ranked No. 23 in the country, pretty good by Spartan standards. Michigan State signed two Rivals250 recruits: defensive tackle Alex VanSumeren (No. 202) and quarterback Katin Houser (No. 151).

This year, with only 11 scholarship slots taken, and at least that many still to be filled, Michigan State already has five Rivals250 commitments.

Michigan State has commitments from seven 4-star recruits, and counting. (Last year, Michigan State had a total of five. Michigan State had three, two, four, five and four 4-star recruits in the previous five classes).

Four 4-star recruits have committed to Michigan State since June 8.

Michigan State has commitments from three Rivals250 recruits in the past eight days: Tampa offensive lineman Clay Wedin (No. 128), Bradenton IMG linebacker Jordan Hall (No. 201), and Murfreesboro, Tenn., WR Demitrius Bell (No. 220).

MSU’s class is ranked No. 9 in the nation by Rivals.com, and positioned to vie for a Top 5 ranking, if Michigan State finishes with some of its top targets, like Okunlola.

“Coach Tucker says they are building for something pretty great right now and he says you want to be a part of it,” Okunlola said.

When Tucker was hired at Michigan State, he said he and his staff would work relentlessly to recruit the type of roster that could compete for a National Championship, the type which resembled the rosters he helped assemble as an assistant at Georgia and Alabama.

These were ambitious goals. Many questioned whether it was possible at Michigan State. But now, a college football nation can’t help but take notice. The Spartans have attracted a number of 4-star official visitors this month that is on par with the Alabamas, Georgias and Ohio States.

Strong visitor schedules doesn’t guarantee a Top 10 class. And Top 10 classes don’t guarantee Top 10 seasons. But it’s been proven thus far in the College Football Playoff era that you can’t win a National Championship without a string of Top 10 recruiting classes.

Michigan State’s strong horsepower at this stage of the 2023 recruiting campaign doesn’t guarantee championships in the future, but the Spartans have never turned qualifying laps at this speed in the 85-scholarship era.

Michigan State hopes to continue its strong pace with players like Samson Okunlola.

Most tall, 300-pounders have power. But Okunlola packs major, major power. With a reported 7-foot-1 wingspan, he flings high school defenders to the ground with apparent ease when he gets a hand firmly placed on a shoulder or chest plate.

He runs his feet well when charging out to the linebacker level. And he pops his hips with suddenness and flexibility while getting his hands into a defender.

The powerful, flexible hips, paired with tremendous upper body strength and all that height, help make him one of the more intriguing o-line prospects in the country.

Also, he’s coachable and dedicated.

His game film improved as the 2021 season progressed, with his pad level getting lower each week.

“I was coming off not playing a real game during my sophomore year (due to COVID cancellations in the state of Massachusetts),” he said. “Each week, my plan was to get better in my technique, get better in my run game, get lower and lower, to the point where I could find a good groove. I didn’t have a season my sophomore year, so I didn’t get any live blocks. So my junior season was about getting live blocks, work technique, and get better as a technician and as a player. During the season, I started really getting better.”

His lateral movement in pass protection is good and getting better.

“Coach Kap (Michigan State offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic) likes how technical I want to be, how smart I am, how aggressive I want to finish blocks and how bad I want to learn to get better,” Okunlola said. “Coach Tucker likes how aggressive I am, the way I play.”

What’s not to like? He has honed a mountain of natural strength into lethal football weaponry.

His ability to sling defenders to the ground is a product of time spent on the Thayer Academy wrestling team. He won the 2022 New England Region Private School Championship.

“That was probably my first real wrestling season,” he said. “We didn’t have a season my sophomore year. My freshman year, I was too heavy, like 340. I got down to the weight my junior year.

“That New England tournament, I didn’t get any points scored on me, so that was probably the best tournament I’ve wrestled in. I won all my matches by pin, and all but one of those pins came in the first period.”

He placed ninth in the private school national meet.

Not bad for a beginner.

Training as a wrestler helped him cut 45 pounds for his junior year of football.

“In wrestling, we do a lot of jump rope, a lot of burpees, a lot of body work movement to help me adjust to my body,” he said. “Wrestling gave me a little more aggressiveness and taught me how to use my body, use my hips a little more to pick people up.

“Wrestling is all about turning the hips and throwing people over my hips. My favorite moves really involve using my hips.”

His attention to detail carried over to the football field.

“I’m working on getting my run game better,” he said while conducting a phone interview from his practice field in Massachusetts. “Getting faster in my first step and second step, and staying lower and getting a good driving base in, and finishing with my hips, that’s what I’m trying to get accomplished.

“And in the pass game, working on my hands to get my hand placement better, really working on staying with my feet under me, being real calm in my stance, and working on body control, and how to move my body from a dead stance and dead position.

“My feet are the best part of my game.”

Okunlola said his second trip to Michigan State allowed him to strengthen his relationship with the Michigan State coaches.

“Coach Tucker and I talked a little bit when I visited the first time and it went a little deeper this time,” Okunlola said. “He’s an overall real person, probably one of the realist coaches I’ve talked to. Just speaking facts about the process of recruiting, and about being a man as well.”

Okunlola’s parents had the same takeaway when they visited in March.

“They loved the visit, loved how the people were, connected well with the people,” he said. “Really solid.”

Next up is a visit to Alabama.

“They started recruiting me a couple of months ago,” he said. “I was already talking to Coach (Eric) Wolford when he was at Kentucky. He slid over and went to Alabama.”

The Tide offered on May 20.

Michigan State and Miami offered last spring. Miami has since changed coaches, with former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal the new head man.

“Overall, I like their offensive line coach, how good he is,” Okunlola said of the Hurricanes. “They are good people.”

With plans to take three more official visits in the fall, Okunlola has clear goals for the season.

“I want to dominate as a technician,” he said. “I want to be an aggressive technician. I want to work on my technique, preparing for college, and get in the best shape of my life.”

Those are things his father clearly understands and respects.

“He likes me being a physical kid, being active, athletic,” Samson Okunlola said of his father. “He knows football, to a certain point. He likes to watch it. He knows my brother is a d-end, so he knows his main option is to get to the quarterback.”

And he knows Samson’s main job is to protect the quarterback, and pound out running lanes for ball carriers.

Samson is among the best in the country at carrying out that job. That’s why the best programs in the country want him. That’s why he’s only interested in the top programs in the country. He sees Michigan State as being squarely in that category. And the Spartans will have a good chance to fulfill that promise of becoming one of the best teams and programs in the nation if they sign Okunlola, and more like him.

That’s the plan. And Michigan State wants Okunlola to be part of it.