Texas' re-offer to Neto Umeozulu has the top lineman's attention

Offensive lineman Neto Umeozulu is one of the nation’s hottest prospects, with top football programs from all over the country in pursuit of the Allen standout.

Though he’s currently ranked as a three-star prospect, Umeozulu’s recruiting profile is definitely on the rise after a standout 2020 season that saw him dominate the opposition while playing right tackle for Allen. Put on the tape, and you can see why Umeozulu’s a hot commodity. In play after play, he’s shown putting defenders on their backs with his tenacity, strength and athleticism. According to Umeozulu, all the success he experienced last fall was due to the work he’d put in leading up to the 2020 season.

“It was just the offseason, during quarantine and the summer going into my senior year, the work I put in, I feel like it came out in my last season,” Umeozulu said. “A lot of people talk. I just let them talk. I just keep my head down, don’t get complacent. I think I showed my aggressiveness, my physicality.”

On the recruiting front, Umeozulu is keeping an open mind among his 28 scholarship offers, but he does have some schools that are recruiting him ultra-aggressively.

“I wouldn’t say any one school is showing me the most interest, but a lot of schools hit me up consistently,” Umeozulu said. “Some schools up there would be OU, A&M, Ohio State, Bama, USC, Oregon, UT – there are a lot of them.”

The 6-5, 295-pound Umeozulu said different teams have moved up and down his internal list over the early stages of the recruiting process, but ultimately he hasn’t ruled anyone out.

“My mind is open right now,” he said. “I’m keeping my recruiting open. I’ve been through some different phases of schools I liked but it’s open. It’s all kind of surreal.”

The new Texas staff, led by Steve Sarkisian, Kyle Flood and Jeff Banks, has re-offered Umeozulu and has told him he’s a major priority for the Longhorns as they try to build an elite offensive line class.

“They all talk to me consistently. They just say how much they really want me, show me a lot of love,” Umeozulu said. “I feel the vibe, they say saying in state, building it up front. They’re talking about how they want to build something up front, want to start it with a good recruiting class up front.”

Though he’s completely open at this early stage, Umeozulu said there are things about the Texas program that stand out.

“I want to study business. I know McCombs is a really good school,” Umeozulu said. “Everybody knows Austin, and it’s only a couple hours away. That aspect is something to consider.”

Umeozulu said he’ll comprise a list of favorites in the future, but right now his focus is on preparing for and taking the SAT. Everything else, he said, will take care of itself in time.

“I don’t have a target date (for a decision). It’s just whenever I feel it,” Umeozulu said. “We can’t go on any campuses right now (to visit with coaches) so that’s a big thing. I want to get a feel for it, and you can’t really do that now. So I don’t have timeline.”