7-foot, eight-man OL Harlan Obioha says ASU is in his top-three

Perhaps you’ve heard of Harlan Obioha. Maybe you’ve watched his Hudl highlights and chuckled because it doesn’t seem real, which floods your head with a million questions, the answers to which only elevate the fabled Paul Bunyan of college football recruiting.

Wait, how tall is he?

“I’m like 6-11 ½, and a complete 7-feet with shows on,” Obioha, who weighs in at 300 pounds, said. “My dad is 7-2, and my mom is 6-foot, so I was born to be tall. This height does not happen around here ever.

“I think the tallest guy I’ll face this year is 6-foot-3.”

And where the heck is this kid?

The three-star 2021 offensive tackle hails from Hoxie, Kansas, a small town in the north half of the state. “It’s like 1,200 people,” he said. “There are about 150 kids at our school.”

And he plays football?

Well, eight-man football on a Hoxie team that has reached the state championship game two of the last three years. “I’ve been playing football my whole life, and then I kind of stopped my freshman year because I planned on playing basketball,” he said. “I was the 2A Player of the Year runner-up last year and first-team all-state.”

Guessing the kid can move?

Yeah. His footwork as an offensive lineman has been lauded by the college coaches recruiting him to the position.

“The first thing is, I bring a reach no other tackle has ever. I just have that reach on everyone,” Obioha said. “For being my size, (coaches think) I bend really well and that if I add some strength, I’ll be unstoppable.”

But here’s a video to show just how good an athlete he is.

“Yeah, I play a little tight end now,” he said with a laugh. “My coach, (Lance Baar), gave me one of his ladders, and during the (quarantine), that’s what I hammered the most. I did footwork every day.”

And it was Baar who promoted his 7-foot unicorn-like he was Don King, getting Obioha’s name, his film and, of course, his height to every college coach he could reach.

And as you could imagine, all that intrigue eventually led to offers, even though no coach has seen him in person.

“That’s why working during the summer and just getting my film out there was such a huge deal in me getting recruited,” Obioha said. “I mean, the way coaches see it is the competition out here compared to inner-city kids, they just don’t compare it the same. Me getting noticed is just crazy.”

Kansas State was the first Division I program to reach out, sending a poster to Obioha’s house to show interest. But it was Iowa State that had the guts to first pull the trigger on an offer in late March, a move copied by Power-5 programs Ole Miss, Indiana, Arizona, and Arizona State.

Obioha spoke with ASU’s co-defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce, last Wednesday night, sparking an interest in the Sun Devils that have vaulted them high amongst Obioha’s contenders.

“They’re definitely a part of that top-three right now … Probably Ole Miss, Iowa State, and Arizona State (are the three schools recruiting me the hardest),” he said. “Just talking with Antonio Pierce, you knew he really cared what you were saying. He wasn’t just reading some script off like I feel some other schools do. That was just huge for me.”

Obioha said he’s aiming to commit in December, a move likely preceded by an official top-five post in October or November. Though he said he’s looking forward to moving to a foreign place, most schools recruiting Obioha are out of his Hoxie.

Where ASU may have one of its biggest advantages is in its ‘Pro Model.’

“That’s huge for me just knowing that they what it takes at the next level, and they know what it takes to get there,” he said. “Really, since COVID is going on and I can’t (take official visits to schools), just building a good relationship with that coach and making sure we’re on the same page about everything. That’s about all I can expect.”

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