Every recruit says academics are important, but not every recruit will bypass playing a season because of it. Collins Acheampong is a unique recruit in nearly every facet. The Ghana native moved to the United States a few years ago and was only able to play one season of football before his school, Fairmont Prep in Anaheim, California, decided to shut down its program amid the pandemic.

The football program at his school is not returning this fall, but Acheampong has no plans of leaving. Fairmont Prep is known for its academics, and that is important to the junior prospect. He also plays basketball at the school and is completely fine with not having another opportunity to play football before he begins his college career.

That all might seem like it has the makings for a recruit who will have to walk on with a college program or find another way onto a roster. Instead, Acheampong is becoming one of the fast-rising recruits in the state.

At 6-foot-7, Acheampong has a ton of untapped potential. He is a blank slate in many ways, and college coaches like what they see. The 2023 prospect begin his football career as a way to gain confidence and become acclimated with sports before basketball season. It instead turned into one of his passions.

While he has mostly prepared himself to be a pass rusher at the next level, Acheampong is not opposed to moving to offense. Right now he is continuing to learn as much about the game as he can and develop his skill set enough to have his pick of options when the process is all said and done.

He is certainly well on his way to having his choice of schools as it stands now. LSU offered him Wednesday, and that offer came on the heels of Acheampong landing offers from USC, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and others.

“I mean, coming from Africa and being an international student you only have one shot at life,” he said. “It’s basically go hard or go home. So, I’ve been going hard and it’s now paying off. That’s basically what it is.”

Cal is one of the newest offers for the 6-foot-7 prospect, and with his appreciation for the academic side of things it is a school he has heard a lot about. The Bears have been active in their pursuit of the 2023 recruit, and he is beginning to become more familiar with the program.