Update: As of March 23, Ezeike has also added an offer from Boston College, while TCU, Nebraska, Cal, and Tennessee have reached out. He is well on his way to having 20 or 30 offers.
Meet Michael Ezeike, the Nigerian former soccer player who is 2018’s next big receiver
The up-and-coming prospect has added four big offers in the days after a standout camp performance.
LOS ANGELES — “Huh. Who is that? He looks like a future NFL player and wasn’t on my list of guys with major college offer,” I said to myself as a huge pass catcher flashed across my camera Sunday during the Los Angeles Nike Football Opening Regional Camp, a collection of 400 of the best players from the Southwest.
“That’s ‘Big Mike,’” said a local scout who had seen Ezeike last week. “He’s gotten a lot better.”
“Big Mike” is Michael Ezeike, of Ontario (Calif.) Colony High School. He came into the camp with offers from Washington State, Oregon State, Fresno State, Hawaii, New Mexico, and San Jose State.
Those are fine offers, but the player we were watching throws defenders off him, plucks balls naturally with his hands, uses a 6’5, 210-pound wingspan to create separation, and changes direction well for his size. A prospect like Ezeike typically has three times as many offers.
I spoke to Ezeike after the camp, and it’s clear to me that he is about to blow up. Ezeike is of Nigerian descent, and he grew up playing soccer, not football. He is just now coming into his own, learning both the game and how to use his big, still-growing body.
Put Ezeike in the mega camps that have already happened this year in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, wherever — he’d still stand out. Currently rated the No. 128 receiver in the nation, Ezeike is criminally underrated, and is just scratching the surface of his potential.
I asked Ezeike what offers he thought might come next. “I was thinking Vanderbilt, Boise State, Wyoming, and Boston College,” he said.
Instead, it was UCLA who came through after the camp, the first huge offer for the huge receiver. Colorado also extended an offer to him on Wednesday, followed by Oregon and Vanderbilt.
It likely won’t be the last. Ezeike has the potential to add good weight to his frame and be a matchup nightmare for opposing secondaries, either as a receiver or a flex tight end. Ezeike would like offers from other regions of the country as well, to see where he fits both academically, and athletically.
