Recruiting: Top 2018 in-state football prospect collecting offers

If Emil Ekiyor had his way, he’d be playing basketball right now for Cathedral High School.

A torn labrum in his left shoulder forced Ekiyor, a 6-3½, 315-pound offensive lineman, to sit out his sophomore year of basketball.

“I wish I was playing,” Ekiyor said. “I’ve just been working out and waiting to get back to physical activity. Everything is going fine. I haven’t had any pain or anything, so I should be back to 100 percent soon. I just have to give it time to heal and get my strength back.”

The injury hasn’t done anything to slow his football recruitment. Ekiyor, considered the No. 1 in-state prospect in the 2018 class by 247sports, picked up an offer from Oklahoma on Monday. The Sooners immediately jumped into Ekiyor’s top five, along with Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Tennessee.

Ekiyor doesn’t yet have offers from Notre Dame or Ohio State but does from the other three.

“I think the interest from Notre Dame is pretty high,” he said. “They have me high on the list for 2018 linemen but haven’t offered any yet. I think I’ll be the first one they offer.”

Ekiyor has plenty of other offers, including Cincinnati, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Missouri, North Carolina State and Vanderbilt. He’ll visit Indiana this weekend and Michigan State the following weekend. He visited Illinois at the end of January.

“That’s all I have scheduled for now,” he said. “I’ve been doing some training lately and haven’t been able to make too many visits.”

Cathedral was 8-4 last season, losing to Avon and IndyStar Mr. Football Brandon Peters 37-34 in double overtime in the Class 6A regional. It was the first time Cathedral has played in 6A after moving up under the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s tournament success factor.

“I thought I had a really good season,” Ekiyor said. “It’s a great step for me to improve on what I did as a freshman. As a team, we did really well. It was a great overall season playing in 6A. It’s better to play that kind of competition so you can actually measure yourself against the best. People can’t say, ‘They are just winning because they are in 5A.’ ”

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Ekiyor said he’s in no rush to commit. His biggest focus now is to improve on his sophomore season.

“Pass protection is every lineman’s weakness starting out,” he said. “Everybody can be physical coming off the ball. I’m working on getting better at being able to control my footwork and hands and all that stuff. Just working on trying to be a better player."

Taking the next Stepp: Ekiyor’s Cathedral classmate, running back Markese Stepp, is also considered one of the top 2018 prospects in the Midwest.

The 6-foot, 210-pound Stepp rushed for 1,295 yards and 17 touchdowns as a sophomore, although he was forced to miss that regional loss to Avon as he recovered from a concussion.

“I really wanted to be out there to help the team, but I needed to get it taken care of so I could be healthy,” he said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the state championship we were looking for, but the season went really well for us.”

Stepp picked up an offer from Iowa on Monday, adding to previous offers from Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana and Purdue. He took a visit to Louisville last weekend and Illinois two weeks ago. He’ll be at Indiana this weekend and Ohio State and Michigan State on Feb. 27 and 28, respectively.

“Illinois was really nice,” he said. “It kind of caught me off guard. They offered before, but I hadn’t been there. I think they are going to get that program turned around.”

Though Stepp doesn’t yet have offers from these schools, he said he likes Michigan State, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

“Ohio State, to me, looks like more of a spread offense,” he said. “Notre Dame has more of the spread and old-school pound the ball. Michigan State likes to run downhill. I like all of those type of offenses.”

It’s unusual for a running back to pick up this many offers so early.

“Coaches say they like my speed, strength and vision,” he said. “They like that I can score a touchdown from anywhere on the field.”

Call IndyStar reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.