On the rise

Arlington Bowie offensive lineman Tope Imade became a national name when a video of him deadlifting 515 pounds in offseason workouts surfaced online, but those who evaluate Texas talent have known of the big lineman for quite some time. Imade attended The Opening regional camp in Arlington and his performance guaranteed his stock will continue to rise.

Imade recently received offers from Texas Tech, Washington, and Nevada and continues to receive more attention thanks to his viral video, “After that video came out, recruiting picked up a little bit. I got my first Big 12 and Pac 12 offers.”

Imade also saw the downside of social media – some detractors who viewed the video used it against him, “I did get some criticism – a little bit because of my technique. If you can’t beat them, join them…hopefully in the future I’m going to do another deadlift video with more weight and better technique.”

While only three schools have formally offered scholarships, the list of colleges that are in steady contact continues to grow. Imade says he believes Baylor and Oklahoma are interested and might be the next schools to extend invites.

While happy with the offers he has received, Imade admits there are some other schools out there he’d really like to hear from, “I’ve been talking to Oklahoma a lot so I’d like to have them offer. Besides the video [the fraternity video that made headlines], they are still a great school.” Imade continued, “I’m trying to hear from Texas. Coach Wickline followed me on twitter, so I think that’s a good sign”.

In the interest of making inroads at UT, Imade will attend the Spring Game on Saturday. He is also considering participating in the Texas camp in June.

Even though two of his three offers are from out of state programs, Imade would prefer to play for a college that is close to home. In an age where recruits covet the opportunity to play in the SEC, Imade is more of a Big 12 fan, “I’m a fan of the Big 12 schools because most of them are in Texas. The only Texas school in the SEC is A&M and I’m trying to be Big 12 oriented.”

Imade also noted that a few of his former teammates play in the Big 12 and he would like the opportunity to play against them. Imade performed well at The Opening and scored in the 99th percentile for peak power. He said his toughest competition at the camp was Trinity’s defensive tackle, Chris Daniels.

This Summer, Imade plans to reach new heights in the deadlift in the interest of increasing power for playing on the line of scrimmage. In addition to working on football skills, Imade is focused on continuing to improve his recruiting profile. As the anchor of an offensive line on a talented Bowie team, there is no doubt that Imade’s profile will steadily rise.