Michigan State’s latest recruit is one of the fastest rising players in the class of 2021.
Mel Tucker and Michigan State dipped into Tennessee for their latest recruit in the class of 2021, defensive end Alex Okelo. The Volunteer state has not been a traditional recruiting ground for the Spartans–their last Tennessee recruit was Jared McGaha in 2007–but as we’ve seen Tucker and co. have been attempting to expand MSU’s recruiting map since taking over in February.
In Okelo the Spartans have found an under-the-radar talent with huge upside. He’s the type of player Mark Dantonio made his hay on at MSU. He’s the type of player a new coach who is looking to start building momentum on the recruiting trail–like Tucker at MSU–needs to find and develop.
Okelo is a three-star recruit, rated by 247Sports as the No. 933 player in the class of 2021. At first blush, sure, it’s not all that impressive of a rating. However context is incredibly important with Okelo. The six-foot-six pass rusher started playing high school football midway through his junior year at Pearl-Cohn in Nashville. That was enough time for him to rack up seven sacks, 60 tackles and an impressive offer list. He chose MSU over offers from Florida State, Kentucky, Tennessee, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Indiana, and North Carolina, among others.
When I turned on Okelo’s film it was easy to see what the coaches that offered him saw. He’s a huge kid that moves very well for his size and has already been able to find success on the field despite not knowing how to play the position. I will show you some of his clips that highlight the impressive traits he has, and just how raw he is as a prospect. The good thing for MSU is that there are so many things–basics of the position–that Okelo needs to shore up. How is that a good thing? Well, they’re pretty damn easy fixes. I’ll start with the first thing I noticed in his film–his feet at the snap.
Okelo doesn’t have a get off. In the clip below he takes two false steps at the snap before he begins moving forward. He does this often. However, once he gets moving forward, he does so with power and fluidity. He’s a very impressive athlete at 6’6 215-ish lbs.
That is a prime example of something that is so easy to fix, it’s almost not worth mentioning here. If Okelo gets to play high school ball this fall, those false steps will probably be gone. Remember, he didn’t start playing football until midway through the season.
Here’s another example of him being new to the position. Look at this feet in his stance. They are even with each other. He even takes kind of a false step with his right foot before the snap. His feet should be staggered to help him fire off at 45 degrees at the snap (His hips, back and neck should all be parallel to the ground pre-snap and at the snap he fires out and up so that his back is at a 45-degree angle from the ground. Think of a sprinter in the blocks.) Instead of firing out and slowly rising, Okelo stands right up at the snap, which is an easy way to lose leverage and get crushed.
In this particular play he’s the read on an option play, so he doesn’t get traditionally blocked. However it is incredibly impressive that despite doing a bunch of things wrong, he’s still strong enough to take on the running back, recover and get to the perimeter to help finish the QB. Again, raw ability from someone who doesn’t know how to play yet.
I quite like this next clip and it’s not for the reason you might think. Okelo is again in a bad stance. His feet are together and his hips, back, and neck aren’t parallel to the ground. He does however get off the ball better on this play compared to the previous ones. His target line is too deep (should be more aimed at the QB when he’s in shotgun) and he frankly gets his hands on the tackle too late and gets pushed out of the play before recovering. If the ball is out on time, the tackle wins this rep. HOWEVER. HOW. EVER. Watch the moment Okelo gets to his deepest point in the backfield. It’s right when he hits what I think is the 20-yard line. He puts his foot in the dirt and cuts on an absolute dime and gains speed while doing so. Watch it a few times and you’ll see the movement I’m talking about.
Remember, he’s 6’6 and lumbering around in shoulder pads and helmet for the first time. We all know plenty of really tall people who need six minutes to change directions when they’re just walking. This is such an impressive moment of athleticism. Imagine those quick feet, ability to change direction, and acceleration paired with a powerful upper body that can get under a tackle and rip by him on the outside. Also, Okelo is going to weigh at least 40 more pounds by time he gets on the field in college. I thought that worth mentioning.
Next play! Another couple of false steps here, but Okelo is unblocked. The design of the play is to get him to commit to the running back on the play action, thus taking himself out of the pass rush. For someone new to football, this type of play can happen very fast and the instinct to tackle the running back can take over. Hell, it happens to far more seasoned players. But Okelo doesn’t take the bait. He diagnoses the play in real time and his patience in the backfield is really impressive. You can see him evaluating the situation in a split second. Then he realizes what’s up and gets to the QB before he can react.
Also notice the DE on the opposite side of the field. He gets in the backfield too, but then becomes reactive and passive instead of getting after the QB. The ability to get in the backfield and make an instinctive play isn’t a given for everyone.
On this next play Okelo is lined up at left defensive end. What I like about this play is that Okelo uses one of his distinct traits to his advantage: his long arms. Long arms help a defensive end get his hands on the tackle before the tackle can do the same to him. Hand placement is a constant battle on the edge. Here Okelo engages the tackle and is able to use his long arms to create leverage to get inside and to the QB. It should be noted that moving a tackle aside like this shouldn’t look that smooth. Okelo is wiry at 217 lbs., but his strength is already obvious.
Very few defensive end prospects have refined pass rush moves at this level. Okelo doesn’t, but he clearly has a natural feel of how to use his long arms to his advantage and when he learns proper pass rush techniques it could be something special.
This last play is Okelo showing off a more traditional pass rush technique–the swim move. Creating separation with his long arms and then “swimming” passed a tackle is something Okelo should be able to excel at down the line. One thing to note, and again it’s just more proof of how little football he has played and how massive his ceiling is, is this isn’t even a technically sound swim move and it still works. In the clip Okelo’s inside hand comes way up and over the tackle. Swimming that high exposes the inside of his body and a good tackle is going to take advantage of that. A defensive end can swim over a tackle like that–and some really great pass rushers do—but it is imperative to clear the tackles hands and get on his outside hip so he can’t hit the exposed chest/rib area. Okelo doesn’t do that and that’s fine because he isn’t an All-American college pass rusher. What makes this swim work despite the technique is Okelo’s quickness–his feet and long arms do much of the work here. He uses his outside arm to engage the tackle and then his feet and speed get him by as he brings his arm over. He probably could have just ducked his inside shoulder under the tackles hands and ripped through. He’s athletic enough to do that.
Again–the high swim is not a major issue because it is easily coachable, but the fact that it still worked shows the raw talent Okelo possesses. And one day he may be good enough to swim like that. It’s a move that really fast guys with long arms can do well and the traits to do that are certainly present.
In another clip Okelo lines up as a stand-up backer which is important because of how he might get used at Michigan State. I’d imagine he’ll do his fair share of that when MSU is in its base 3-4, but he can easily slide down to defensive end in a base 3-4 or–and this will be his money spot–defensive end in the 4-2-5, which I’d bet MSU uses a lot as the primary sub package against spread offenses. There will be some positional versatility to Okelo’s game.
Overall Alex Okelo is an impressive prospect especially considering how little football he has played. His mistakes and technique issues are so easily correctable that I’d be surprised if they weren’t gone by time he gets to East Lansing. He has been rising like crazy in the recruiting world since strapping on the pads and I’d bet he’s in line for a huge senior season if he gets to play. The stats he put up in limited time are impressive and the sky is the limit for him. Okelo possess size, length and athleticism that cannot be taught. He seems to have some pretty good football instincts already and possesses a good motor and certainly enjoys hitting quarterbacks. He’s a raw and intriguing prospect that programs with new coaches need to find and develop before the recruiting momentum really gets going. And that is exactly what Mel Tucker did in this recruiting win.
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