After Metoric Recruiting Rise, Oklahoma Signee P.J. Adebawore Eager to Take a Bite of College Life

Going from an unranked prospect to a 5-star in just eight months was a wild journey that concluded this week with a "hectic" signing day and a bad tooth.

Even for 5-star recruits, National Signing Day can be a real pain.

For Oklahoma signee P.J. Adebawore, the pain was pretty bad.

As soon as he signed his National Letter of Intent to play defensive end for the Sooners, Adebawore went to the dentist and had a tooth pulled.

“Literally signed and I left,” Adebawore said. “One of my molar teeth.”

Adebawore said Wednesday “was really hectic. Everyone is kind of rushing you in a way. And I had to go to a doctor’s appointment. I had a lot going on. It was very hectic. But I got it done and I'm really excited about it.”

He said the tooth got infected and “I’m still struggling with it.”

But he’s not struggling with his decision to sign with the Sooners. That was the one part of signing day that couldn’t have gone any better. He loved every visit he took to the OU campus, including his official visit last summer. He came away struck by how nice everyone was.

“They’re very genuine, very, very welcoming,” Adebawore told AllSooners. “No such thing as a little handshake up there. They give you a hug when you meet someone. Very family oriented and just great people. The staff, their personalities, their character, their beliefs – I could name a whole bunch of people on their staff, which is great.”

P.J. Adebawore / P.J. Adebawore via Twitter

Adebawore’s recruitment — between his sophomore year in 2020 and his senior year in 2022 — was like being strapped to a rocket. It’s uncommon for a prospect to rise from being unranked to a 5-star in less than a year's time, but Adebawore did exactly that.

On3 ranks him as the No. 27 overall prospect in the nation (he reached as high as No. 7), while the 247 Sports composite has him at No. 25 and Rivals has him at No. 35.

On Dec. 8, 2021, Adebawore was ranked for the first time as a prospect by 247 Sports. He debuted at No. 393 overall. He reached 5-star status on Aug. 16, 2022.

Adebawore said part of the reason he started out so low was that he didn’t always play defensive end.

“I switched like, my junior year,” he said, “and then I just had a crazy, crazy season. That’s kind of when the opportunities started coming in for me – during the season more so than after the season. My name started to get out there. I did a camp or two, and more people would see me. I think what caught people’s eyes about me, just my athleticism. They kind of see that in my measurables, and I think that’s a big part of me jumping up like that.”

He’s now 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, with a frame that could easily hold 270 in college. His first year at d-end for North Kansas City High School was good, but was also a learning experience. He said he could feel himself becoming a better player between his junior and senior seasons.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. “I felt more comfortable senior year. I felt more in control. LIke, the person I’m going against, I’m better than you. Like, I just had that be my mindset, like ‘This guy can’t hold me.’ I got to really show that, too, be strong with everything I do. Like, I can’t let no one bully me. I can’t. I can’t. That’s kind of my approach. Last year, I was kind of going through the motions. I was making plays, for sure. But this year, I’m really understanding how good I am, in a way.”

One thing that gave him that confidence was going against Cayden Green, a fellow future Sooner from Lee’s Summit North. Green is a 4-star left tackle, rated No. 9 nationally at his position by the 247 Sports Composite. He’s especially accomplished at pass blocking, utilizing long arms and his 6-5, 315-pound Fram to shut down enemy pass rushers.

But Adebawore got to scrimmage him in 2021 and again in 2022, and their matchups were epic.

“Yeah, it was fun,” Green told AllSooners. “It was good on good, and we hadn’t really seen competition like we had when we went against each other. So it was a good test.”

“It was a good competition,” Adebawore said. “I would say it was pretty much even. He did good things to me and I did good things to him. I would say, last year when I scrimmaged him and we were playing, I had just started playing d-line, I remember some people on my team were like, ‘Hey, you know we gotta scrimmage Cayden Green?’ I didn’t even know who he was. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t care. I’m just gonna go out there and do me, no matter what. I don’t care.’ So I didn’t really know him, and then we scrimmaged. He definitely got me a lot.

“There’s so much stuff, looking back at it now, like, ‘I could have did this, I could have did that.’ But I definitely got him some this past year. I want to say I did way better against him this time. I was doing good, but I definitely did a lot better my senior year. It was definitely fun. Good comp. Wish I could have went up against him more, honestly.”

Adebawore will get his wish in Norman, as both will start their college careers in January and participate in spring practice. And if they thought they knew each other before, just wait — they’re rooming together.

“Especially if we get into it in practice,” Adebawore said with a laugh. “At that point, you’re growing into a man, you’ve got to be able to just leave stuff on the field, whatever does go down.”

It won’t be anything new for Adebawore. He’s been to Norman plenty over the past year. OU offered him a scholarship on Feb. 11, he took his official visit to Norman on June 3, and he committed on July 10. His most recent unofficial visit was for the Sooners’ victory over Oklahoma State. He loved the atmosphere almost as much as the coaching staff.

“The people, how genuine they are with everything,” he said. “The culture they’ve built in the little time they’ve been there. And my position coach (Miguel Chavis) is just a crazy high-character dude. He’s just very admirable and he’s easy to (emulate). You have a great head coach (Brent Venables), a defensive-minded head coach. Great track record as a head coach. Great person. A talker. He’s a talker, for sure. He’s very admirable too.”

Venables called Adebawore a “fantastic young man. … He's broad, he's long and he's all arms and limbs. He can really run with very explosive and natural instincts as a pass rusher. He's got a great frame, just south of 230 pounds. I really like where he's at and what his future looks like.”

Iowa State was Adebawore’s first FBS offer, and he liked the Cyclones. He also liked the offer he got from Northwestern — where his big brother Adetomiwa, a 6-2, 280-pound defensive lineman, made 38 tackles, nine tackles for loss and five quarterback sacks this year and is on his way to the NFL Draft.

He said Pat Fitzgerald and the Wildcats were a sentimental pull for him.

“It definitely was,” Adebawore said. “I actually liked them, just because of who they are, their culture. I admired them a lot.”

Adebawore — whose parents came to the U.S. from Nigeria — is one of four brothers. His younger brother, Adeyeye, is a high school sophomore who plays defensive tackle and just squatted 505 pounds.

“He’s a beast,” said PJ — short for Adepoju. “Interior dude, d-tackle-slash-nose – probably more d-tackle – and he could get bigger and bigger. He’s like 250 and strong. Like, crazy strong. He just squatted 505 as a sophomore. He literally went, like, down and up – pfft. I mean, I hit that last year. I hit 505 my junior year, and he hit it as a sophomore.”

If Adeyeye blooms like his big brothers did, he’ll have plenty of opportunity to take their advice and follow their lead. It was Adetomiwa who helped guide Adepoju through a crazy recruiting process.

“My brother, he was kind of underrecruited – pretty slept on,” P.J. said. “ … Just mentoring me through this process, just telling me different things to look out for in my recruiting process. Just things like, ‘This school is good, this is what this coach said, you should do this.’ He really advised me, you know, ‘Make sure you’re comfortable with it.’ He wanted to make sure I’m in control of my recruitment. He just wanted to advise me and direct me. I was able to ask him every question, and he was able to answer it to the best of his ability.”

But even big brother didn’t see a meteoric rise from unranked to 5-star in 12 months.

He’ll get a chance next week to continue that rise as he plays in the Under Armour All-American Bowl in Orlando, FL. Two weeks later, he’ll be a Sooner, working out with teammates, carrying books to class, wondering where not to park — and probably looking for a dentist.

“I’m just hoping that my tooth is healed,” Adebawore said, “so I can start getting back on my feet a little bit so I’m not just over there looking sloppy and stupid.”

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