Brent Venables and Oklahoma acquired a 2025 class cornerstone Wednesday, beating out Texas and Texas A&M for the commitment of five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi.
With his commitment, Fasusi, a 6-foot-6, 295-pound blocker from Lewisville, Texas, who is ESPN’s ninth-ranked recruit in the 2025 cycle, becomes the Sooners’ top prospect in 2025, the program’s first cycle in the SEC.
According to ESPN rankings, Fasusi is the No. 2 talent at his position in 2025, and he is Oklahoma’s highest-rated offensive lineman commit since 2006. If Fasusi signs with the Sooners later this year, he will become the third top-10 signee of the Venables era in Norman, joining quarterback Jackson Arnold and defensive tackle David Stone.
Prior to Fasusi’s commitment, Oklahoma was ranked No. 12 in ESPN’s most recent cycle team rankings. With his late-August pledge, the Sooners begin their first fall in the new conference with a significant recruiting victory over SEC rivals Texas and Texas A&M, as well as a dose of upbeat, late-cycle energy on the field.
“Me and my family, we sat down, prayed about it and came up with the right answer,” Fasusi said in an ESPN interview. “With Oklahoma, there was no ‘but.’ It was the only option without a ‘but’. The process was difficult, but it became very easy for me to make this decision in the end.”
Fasusi completed one of the most hotly contested recruitments for 2025 with a ceremony inside Lewisville High School’s auditorium. Fasusi celebrated with relatives donning a red Oklahoma hat, but the occasion also represented a watershed moment in the Nigerian-born tackle’s family history.
Wednesday commemorates five years since Fasusi and his family arrived in the United States from Ondo State, Nigeria, and eventually settled in Lewisville, about 40 minutes north of Dallas.
Ebenezer and Olayemi, Fasusi’s parents, relocated to the United States to provide their children with better educational possibilities. Football arrived later and became a pathway for Fasusi. At the time of his pledge, he had about 40 scholarship offers from Power 4 programs.
“My parents worked hard to make this happen,” Fasusi explained. “It was a very strange experience at first. I didn’t understand why until today. But we came here specifically for this occasion.”
Fasusi’s football career started as a freshman at Lewisville High. After his spectacular sophomore season in 2022, he was voted the Dallas Morning News’ 6-6A Offensive Newcomer of the Year the following year. Soon, Power 4 programs were around the towering lineman, who had already exhibited exceptional athleticism and raw promise after only three years in football.
Nearly two years later, Fasusi paid official visits in the spring to Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Texas, as well as LSU and Missouri. By August, Fasusi had reduced his choices to three.
Duke was the second major institution to extend an offer to Fasusi in the fall of 2022, and Mike Elko kept a close contact with him after he transferred to Texas A&M late last year. Adam Cushing, the Aggies offensive line coach, was extensively involved in Fasusi’s recruitment. Fasusi was drawn to Texas because of the resources there, and he got along well with Steve Sarkisian and offensive line coach Kyle Flood.
In-state ties weighed heavily on Fasusi, but in the closing weeks of his recruitment, Oklahoma — only 165 miles from home — broke away from the pack. Sooners offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh was instrumental in Fasusi’s recruitment, selling an Oklahoma team that has produced 13 NFL draft picks since his arrival in 2013, including back-to-back first-round offensive lineman selections Anton Harrison (2023) and Tyler Guyton.
Fasusi also considered Venables’ pedigree and vision for the Sooners in the SEC, as well as the program’s proximity to home, when making his selection.
Fasusi praised Bedenbaugh as “a great man.” “He’s done an excellent job of recruiting me and my family, reassuring us every time. Oklahoma is the appropriate place for my development; they can bring me to where I want to go as a player and a person.”
With Fasusi in the fold, Oklahoma now has two top-100 commitments in the 2025 class, including four-star in-state defensive end C.J. Nickson (No. 97 in the ESPN 300). Fasusi is Oklahoma’s 11th ESPN 300 promise for 2025, and he now leads an offensive line class that includes four-star offensive lineman Ryan Fodje (No. 206 in the ESPN 300) and three-star guards Darius Afalava and Owen Hollenbeck.
Fasusi’s commitment leaves only three uncommitted recruits among ESPN’s top 10 prospects for 2025.
Five-star linebacker Jonah Williams, ranked eighth in the ESPN 300, is expected to make his decision this weekend, with Texas, Oregon, Texas A&M, LSU, and USC all in the running. Top defensive tackles Elijah Griffin (No. 5 in the ESPN 300) and Justus Terry (No. 7) are anticipated to continue their recruiting in the autumn.
