5-Star Felix Ojo Adds Big 12 Program in Official Visit This Weekend After Nearly Confirming Commitment

Felix Ojo, the five-star offensive tackle from Mansfield (Texas) Lake Ridge, was just coming off a high-profile visit that had every sign pointing toward one destination. The buzz? Wild. His own words? Even wilder. “Match me up against any defensive player, whether they’re in the class of 2026, 2025, or even 2024, and not a single one is beating me 1 on 1,” he wrote on X. “That’s how elite I am, and very few are just now realizing it.” Fair enough. If you blinked this week, you probably missed a wild twist in the Felix Ojo recruitment saga. Just when Texas fans were halfway popping champagne bottles, thinking the five-star offensive tackle was already locked in, boom. Enter Big 12’s mid-contender.

The 5-star OT had 50 offers stacked, including almost every top-tier program. Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, and Colorado all rolled out the red carpet. He’s already logged official visits with most of them. He even canceled an OV to Oklahoma like it was nothing. And after pulling up to Texas last weekend, posting a pic in a burnt orange t-shirt alongside one of their starting tackles—captioned, “The Present and The Future? #HookEm”—folks thought the deal was done. Stamp it. Call the commitment edit guy.

That’s why eyebrows hit the ceiling when Ojo revealed he was taking an official visit this weekend to Utah. The Utes. Not only that, but they just offered him this month. June 2. Talk about a late riser. But clearly, the Utes HC Kyle Whittingham and his crew made enough noise in just two weeks to earn Ojo’s attention. And Utah’s been cooking on the offensive line too. They’ve got two NFL-bound tackles on the roster this fall, and they’ve quietly built one of the nastiest trench pipelines out West.

Whittingham is quietly building a recruiting class with real teeth. They locked in on 6 players from the class of 2026. They’ve already landed commits from three-star running back LaMarcus Bell, three-star QB Michael Johnson, and linebacker Preston Pitts out of Texas. Adding a five-star like Ojo could be a true statement move. You drop him in that O-line room and he’s a plug-and-play tackle by year one. NFL scouts already have tabs on Utah’s 2025 linemen, and Felix could be next in line.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns aren’t exactly packing their bags. Far from it. They’ve been putting in months of work. Steve Sarkisian reportedly told his staff that Ojo was their “No.1 must-get lineman in 2026.” The way they recruited him? Diabolical. “They flat out said and showed that I’m their No. 1 priority when it comes to linemen,” Ojo admitted. “I felt that energy.” Combine that with all three major recruiting sites—On3, 247 Sports, and Rivals—projecting him to Texas, and the vibes still scream Austin.

But this move to entertain the Utes’ pitch keeps things spicy. Recruiting’s never linear, and Ojo’s proving it. As of now, On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine still gives Texas a 90% chance of landing him. But it’s not over ‘til he drops the commitment video—and this weekend in Salt Lake City just bought everyone else a few more seconds on the clock.

What’s happening with Felix Ojo’s recruitment?

So here’s where the chess match really starts. The Texas Longhorns hosted one of the most loaded official visit weekends in the country. Five-stars, four-stars, elite prospects across the board—and Ojo was right in the center of it all. It was the second of three massive June weekends for Texas recruiting, and from what recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman reported, the Longhorns might’ve sealed the deal. “There is a sense that Texas closed strong on this official visit and left a big enough impression on the elite OT ahead of his July commitment. There is a strong sense that Ojo won’t leave the state to play college football,” he noted.

Ojo’s physical tools are straight out of an NFL development manual. The No. 6 overall player in the country, No. 3 OT, and No. 1 prospect in Texas per On3’s Industry Ranking. Not to mention, he’s a discus monster—launching it 119-4 feet as a high school sophomore. That raw strength plus agility? It’s rare. That’s exactly why even Deion Sanders, a.k.a. Coach Prime, wanted him in Colorado. Ojo made the trip to Boulder last month and gave serious thought to their pitch, but it wasn’t enough to sway him into making it a final contender.

The same went for Ole Miss, Texas Tech, and Florida. He showed face, respected the grind, but none of them hit home like Texas apparently did. And yet, Utah now enters the fold with less than a month to go before Ojo’s commitment window. That’s huge. For a staff that only offered him two weeks ago to snag an OV this late in the cycle? That’s either elite recruiting or proof that Ojo’s still weighing every angle.

More proof? He shut down future visits to Notre Dame and Oklahoma with one short message: “Not needed. Nearing my decision a lot sooner than later.” That doesn’t happen if a guy’s unsure. That happens when a guy’s trimming fat. But if he’s still open to Utah, you must wonder… is it really a done deal?