High School

4-star defensive lineman Tobi Haastrup signs with Oregon football

A stranger to football not long ago, Mayde Creek 4-star recruit Haastrup swaps spikes for cleats

Dennis Silva II

Mayde Creek High School defensive lineman Tobi Haastrup has only played football for one season, and now he is committed to Oregon
Mayde Creek High School defensive lineman Tobi Haastrup has only played football for one season, and now he is committed to Oregon / Dennis Silva II

Before senior Oluwatobiloba Haastrup played his first ever football game on Aug. 30—on the Texas high school Class 6A varsity level, no less—Mayde Creek High defensive line coach DeChristeon Wilson kept it simple.

“Hey, play fast and don’t think,’” Wilson advised.

Haastrup had four sacks that game. He had never stepped onto a football field until two months prior. And yet, here he was at Rhodes Stadium in Katy, dominating Fort Bend Travis’ offense by persistently rushing its backfield time and time and time again.

“He took it and ran with it,” Wilson said.

Seven months ago, Haastrup knew nothing about football. He couldn’t tell you what a sack or first down was, let alone how to line up on the field.

The young man’s life has changed radically since then.

Now everyone knows “Tobi.”

On Early National Signing Day Wednesday afternoon, Haastrup, one of the premier recruits in the Class of 2025, signed to Oregon before a live audience on ESPN, choosing the Ducks over Missouri, Florida State, Texas Tech, Michigan and USC.

Haastrup is a four-star recruit, ranked 270th nationally, 37th in the state and 24th at his edge position by 247Sports’ composite rankings.

“I felt home,” Haastrup said of Oregon. “Right when I got there, 30 people shook hands with me. The whole defensive scheme. The head coach himself (Dan Lanning), who played my position. They had a plan for me. It was the overall feeling.

“I asked God to help me feel at peace when I made the decision, and He definitely did.”

Haastrup might be a newcomer to the sport but he has everything else.

He stands 6-foot-4 at a chiseled 235 pounds. He runs a 10.7 100-meter dash; prior to this summer, his focus ever since the seventh grade had been track and field, and for good reason. Haastrup is a Junior Olympian in the 100-meters and shot put.

But once he graced the football field, his whole world changed.

It was enough to where colleges did not need to see anything more after watching tape from the Travis game.

Four days later, Haastrup, born and raised in southeast London for nine years before moving to California in 2016 and Houston in 2019, had more than 10 Power 4 college offers. He currently holds 23.

“It’s been hectic but it’s been a blessing,” said Haastrup, who is of Nigerian descent. “God has definitely seen me through each and every game. I asked God to protect me every game, and I left the season no injuries, perfectly fine. Without God, this would not be possible.”

When he arrived on campus in June as Mayde Creek’s head football coach, Mike Arogbonlo was immediately approached by some of his staff.

“‘There’s this kid who looks like a football player who just runs track. We need to get him to play football,’” Arogbonlo remembered being told. “I went and found him.”

Wilson also played a leading role in Haastrup deciding to finally put on a helmet and pads.

Haastrup ran track four years ago against Wilson’s nephew, Tay’Shawn Wilson, a Class of 2023 graduate of Mayde Creek. Tay’Shawn competed in an LSU indoor meet against Haastrup, who spent the first two years of high school at Strake Jesuit before coming to Mayde Creek.

“Every track kid plays football. He was the only one that didn’t,” Wilson said. “They’d all ask me, ‘Coach, can you convince him to play football?’ I told him he should try football. He said he only ran track. After that, I never saw him again until he ended up here running track.”

Last spring, Wilson again recommended Haastrup run track. Haastrup again declined.

But Haastrup, a polite and respectful 17-year-old with a booming, authoritative voice, continued to develop a close relationship with Wilson, who is also a track coach at Mayde Creek and the school’s strength and conditioning coach.

That bond paid off in the summer, when Wilson, for a third time, tried to sell Haastrup on football.

“I said, ‘Hey, man, just come work out with us. Just see if you like it. If you don’t like it, so be it,’” Wilson said. “He was so big on track, so when he actually said he would play football, it was a shocker.”

Prior to Mayde Creek, Wilson was the director of sports performance for an athletic program in Sugar Land, accustomed to working with athletes of all levels, beginners, intermediate and advanced.

He knew how to handle cases like Haastrup’s, building someone from the ground up.

“When he came on, the biggest thing was what his mindset was. Like, did he really want it?” Wilson said. “I saw his eagerness. We translated track. Getting in a stance, getting off blocks, exploding out. At first it was a challenge, because I would forget about the IQ aspect of the game and taught him more of the physical aspect.”

Wilson, who played the defensive line at McNeese State, taught Haastrup how to shoot his hands, dipping, high set and low set. How to avoid an offensive lineman’s hands, which he related to boxing.

Wilson said the two things that separate Haastrup most from his peers is his willingness to be coached and his trust in his training and coaches.

“The coaches saved me,” Haastrup said. “I have a high ceiling. I didn’t have any bad habits yet. I work nonstop. After this, I’ll be going out to the track. It’s like I’m a freshman trying to get on varsity all over again.”

Haastrup finished this season with 10 sacks and 23 quarterback hits in 10 games. Both numbers led District 19-6A, which features stellar programs like Katy, Katy Tompkins, Katy Jordan and Cinco Ranch.

“He’s a great competitor and a great learner,” said Mayde Creek junior Kosi Okpala, a fellow four-star recruit at linebacker and defensive end. “The biggest thing about him is he just comes out and works. He’s a sponge. He learns from everyone.”

It did not take long for Haastrup to become the focus of opponents’ offensive game-planning.

“I did not think he would be at this point so fast,” Arogbonlo said. “But his hard work, his dedication … he didn’t miss in the summer. He shows up every day. And when he wasn’t here, he’d send videos of him working out.”

Everything worked out. Haastrup now has an incredible future in a game that was once so foreign.

“Football, I fell in love with it,” he said. “The competition, one-on-one. Getting after it. Putting my physical traits of strength and speed altogether. It’s definitely something that I love and enjoy.”

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Dennis Silva II
DENNIS SILVA II

Dennis Silva II has been an award-winning sports writer in Texas since 2006, serving as sports editor and reporter at weekly and daily newspapers in Houston, Katy, Laredo and McAllen. He was honored as the 2023 Texas High School Coaches Association Sportswriter of the Year. His sports writing and sports coverage have also been recognized by the Associated Press Managing Editors, Associated Press Sports Editors and Texas Press Association. He began contributing to High School On SI in 2024.

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