2025 Denton Guyer DL Xavier Ukponu is fresh off of a visit to Miami. The ballyhooed defensive lineman had a lot of great things to say about the Hurricanes. “I loved it down there at Miami. The whole staff has made me feel right at home. They really know how to give you that family atmosphere.”
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“They were really welcoming and everything, they treated me good. It was fun. I got to stay in the D-line meetings because they had practice, so I got to watch the meetings and everything.” Ukponu was especially impressed with defensive line coach Joe Salave’a and the way that he went through practice saying, “I got to watch practice. They practice pretty hard, and it was pretty fun to watch. I got to see how Coach Salave’a does his coaching and everything. I was pretty impressed.”
Ukponu is originally from Nigeria and didn’t move to the US until he was 15 years old for his freshman year in high school. He played basketball and soccer before he moved to the States and picked up football. He adapted to America rather quickly, saying that it “really wasn’t that hard to adapt.” Since he didn’t start playing football until just two years ago, he had to learn a lot about the game in a short amount of time. “There was definitely a learning curve. I had to adapt really fast and work on my body in the weight room.”
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Xavier has several visits scheduled throughout spring, including Baylor on March 18th, Oklahoma on March 25th, and Texas A&M on April 1st. He has also expressed interest in attending TAMU’s spring game but has not officially decided on whether or not he will go. It’s still very early in the process for the young talent, but his recruitment is picking up quickly as we get further into spring.
