Every year there always seems to be one prospect in the city of Houston who bursts onto the recruiting scene, late to the party.
This year, look no further than Mayde Creek’s Tobi Haastrup -- a 2025 DE who has picked up 21 offers in the past month -- and went from unknown to a 4-Star national recruit overnight.
How did he get here?
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Haastrup’s journey to football is more unique than most, starting with living ‘across the pond’ in London.
“I lived in London for nine years and the main sports over their were futbol and and track, so that’s what I played when I moved over to the US," he said. "I really was trying to get a track scholarship originally, but realized if you’re not running a 10.1 or 10.2, there aren’t many schools offering you for track.”
After some convincing from some coaches, Haastrup traded in his spikes for cleats.
“The football coaches came up to me over the offseason and convinced me to give football a shot," he said. "They told me I had the size and the speed, so I decided to give it a shot for my senior year.
“I went to SAC (speed and strength) camp all summer and trained non-stop. I really knew nothing about what I was doing other than getting off the ball, because it was similar to getting a good start out of the blocks in track.”
Many people who have only been playing football for three months might struggle or have a slow start, but Haastrup introduced himself to Texas High School football was a bang.
In his first game playing the sport, Haastrup finished the game with four sacks, seven tackles and two QB pressures, a stat line that even many high-level 5-star prospects might not eclipse in their high school careers.
“Before the first game I really was just leaving it up to God, praying for the confidence in myself to go out there and apply what I had learned so far,” he said.
After that first game stat line, Haastrup got his first taste of the recruiting process picking up 21 offers from some big-time Power 4 programs overnight.
“I always thought that I would get a scholarship to run track, so whenever they started to come in for football I just had to thank God. None of this would be possible without him.”
Haastrup will have a big decision coming around signing day and will be visiting LSU, Boston College, Missouri, Ole Miss and Florida State in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned.