‘What’s a scoop?’: meet Tobi Haastrup, the accidental superstar and coveted recruit

Tobi Haastrup had no idea what to do.

The 17-year-old had never been in a defensive stance before. He wasn’t sure what it meant to jump offside and had never heard of a tackle for loss. Come to think of it, he didn’t really know what downs were or how they worked either. But here he was last summer, training with the Mayde Creek High football team in Houston.

“Everything was new to me,” says Haastrup, born and raised in England.

But who needs to know the rules when you’re 6 feet tall, weigh 235 pounds and run a 10.7-second 100-meter dash?

Mayde Creek defensive line coach Dechristeon Wilson, also the school’s assistant track coach, urged Haastrup to try football heading into his senior year. At best, Haastrup would practice the sport. At worst, he would drop out of high school with no regrets.

“I didn’t know much about it,” Haastrup said.

On August 30, he played his very first football game and finished with five sacks and about three offside penalties.

Within a week, more than a dozen FBS schools, including Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M, reached out with scholarship offers.

Three months later, Haastrup has 23 offers and is one of the most coveted uncommitted Class of 2025 prospects heading into the early signing period next month. The accidental superstar, who has never attended summer camp or taken an official visit before this fall, is ranked No. 279 nationally in the 247Sports Composite.

With official visits to Boston College, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Texas Tech and, most recently, USC already in the books, Haastrup has two final stops on what has become a hectic college tour. He will be in Michigan this week and Oregon next week ahead of a Dec. 2 decision and Dec. 4 signing.

And to think, three months ago he knew nothing about the Big Ten or SEC.

“It’s overwhelming sometimes,” he says. “But I thank God every day for the experiences.”

Haastrup was born in England and spent the first nine years of his life in South East London, where he did not follow American football in any way.

The family moved to the Sacramento, California area in 2016 and then, three years later, moved to Houston, where Tobi, the youngest of three children, came into his own as a sprinter and shot putter.

But he never thought much about football. That changed last summer.

Mike Arogbonlo was hired as Mayde Creek’s head coach in May after a stint as quarterbacks coach at Texas powerhouse Duncanville High. A few of his new assistant coaches wasted little time in pointing out the No. 1 priority.

“The first thing I was told by the coaching staff was (how big it would be) if I could get this kid out who looks great, is fast – he’s a great athlete,” Arogbonlo said of Haastrup. “Ik zei: ‘Oké.’ And I went looking for him, and we started talking.”

Haastrup and Arogbonlo quickly hit it off and bonded over their families’ Nigerian roots. Haastrup had an innocence that Arogbonlo appreciated, having spent time with arrogant five-stars at his previous stops. Most of all, Haastrup was willing to learn and had no problem admitting what he didn’t know.

“It just takes you back to basics,” Arogbonlo said. “There were a lot of questions he had: ‘What is a first? Where’s the down mark? What is a defensive end, and what is the difference between a defensive end and an outside linebacker?” He knew nothing about those things. But he’s like a sponge, he soaks up everything he can.’

Wilson realized that the Mayde Creek coaches needed to simplify the game for Haastrup as much as possible. He decided to relate football to track whenever he could. Exploding out of a D-lineman’s stance was like jumping out of track blocks. The same speed that Haastrup used in races would also get him to the quarterback. The only difference was that Haastrup would have to learn to take a turn instead of running straight, which Wilson prepared him for in practice with several figure-eight exercises. The duo worked on ghost moves, bull rushing and other basic pass rushing techniques, with Wilson letting Haastrup pick his favorites during game time.

“With him, it was like, ‘Oh, I have to take it back — a long time ago,’” Wilson said. ‘It’s like I’m teaching younger and younger children. Like I’m teaching my cousin or someone else. But I love that because it was like a blank canvas.

When the season came, Haastrup’s biggest problem was setting up offsides. He was so focused on his pass-rush technique that he forgot the basics and kept getting five-yard penalties.

“All I knew was, ‘Go down and see the ball, get the ball,’” he said.

But as time went on, Haastrup began to feel more comfortable. Halfway through the season he got used to it and no longer had to look to the sidelines for guidance as often. Through film study, he was able to pick up on how opposing offensive linemen set their feet and ultimately developed countermoves that he could use.

Mayde Creek went just 5-5 this season, but Haastrup finished with 20 tackles for loss and nine sacks while playing at the Class 6A level of Texas high school football.

“A few colleges were wary,” Arogbonlo said. “They wanted to see him play two or three games (before they offered him).

“The main question was always, ‘Is he 6-3 or 6-4?’ And I told coaches, ‘I don’t care what he is. He is a 10.7 runner in the 100 meters and weighs 240 pounds. This is a no-miss (prospect) because at worst he plays special teams. ”

Arogbonlo said he fields a call every day from a college coach about Haastrup, who is starting to get a sense of which programs are historically the most successful and which conferences are the most competitive. Wilson, the school’s recruiting coordinator, helped Haastrup through the process and encouraged him to trust his instincts.

Haastrup’s coaches believe his decision will go down the drain.

Academics are important to Haastrup, who eventually wants to attend medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon. His 19-year-old sister is studying neuroscience at Texas A&M.

Development will also be an important part of the decision.

“Being so new to the sport,” he said, “this will definitely be one of the most important decisions I make in my life.”

In a college football world where prospects are often first identified in the eighth or ninth grade, Haastrup’s story is rare.

“Football can take you places you never thought you would go,” Wilson said.

In Haastrup’s case, he’s just getting started.

“(Whoever gets him), they’re going to have a child with a lot of benefits,” Arogbonlo said. “I suspect that with more time, with nutrition, with the training table at a higher level, with the technical staff, I expect enormous growth. I really believe he is a Sunday player. That’s the kind of kid I think he is.

“If God could make a football player, he made Tobi.”

(Photo courtesy of Jimmie Aggison/The Houston Defender)