Mikial Onu
	Height	6-0
	Weight	180
	40-yard Dash	4.41 (hand-timed — 4.57 laser-timed)
	Bench Press	265 (before senior season)
	Squat	405
	Vertical Leap	36 inches

First-team All-District 24-5A
Greater Houston Top 100 (Houston Chronicle)
First-team All-Greater Houston (Houston Chronicle)
Defensive Player of the Year Award finalist (Houston Touchdown Club)
247sports: **
Rivals: **
Scout: **
247sports: No. 213 CB in country
247sports: No. 288 player in Texas

Last Year Statistics

9 interceptions
“40-50” tackles
3 forced fumbles
2 fumble recoveries

Strengths as a Player

Mikial Onu is a fast, athletic defender with exceptional technique and a high football IQ that is expected from a player who has numerous family members who have excelled in college and in the NFL. He has sound coverage fundamentals, is a sure tackler and hard hitter, and is a student of the game who understands opposing offenses as well as many of the offensive players across the line of scrimmage; several of his interceptions were as much a result of reading what the receivers did as they were of his pure athletic ability.

Interviews

George Ranch head coach Ricky Tullos on Mikial Onu:

Mikial is a very smart, versatile kid who can play both safety and corner, and can play on either side of the field. He’s very instinctive, and has more physicality than you think when you look at him . But he’s just tremendous when it comes to instincts — he just makes plays, and those things are hard to coach.

I really like his understanding of the game. Mikial doesn’t just know what to do — he also knows why you ask him to do things. He understands our schemes, and he understands why offenses are trying to do what they do. He can play anywhere you want him to play.

Mikial has decent size, and you might not know it by looking at him, but he is a physical player. Some cornerbacks don’t want to stick their nose in there to make a tackle, but Mikial will do that.

Academically, athletically, he’s going to do a great job there. He has some family up in that area, the coaches do an outstanding job, and that’s a program that’s really up and coming. SMU is a great place for him.

Mikial Onu on why he chose SMU:

First of all, I was born in Dallas and I still have a lot of family there. When I visited, I fell in love with the coaching staff — they were always after me. SMU was the first school to show interest in me, the first to talk to me, and then I just loved the city. My decision was easy at that point.

They invited me up to Junior Day last year — I met the coaches then. When I first got up there, I started to get to know the coaches. Coach Mac (linebackers coach Archie McDaniel) is a funny guy, really cool.

I played cornerback this year out of necessity, but (the SMU coaches) told me they want me to play the boundary safety position, to be more physically involved in the running game. I think they lost a couple of seniors from last year’s team, and had a few guys get hurt, so they said they want me to be ready Day One. If I don’t earn a spot, that’s one thing, but if I do well, I won’t redshirt.

I’m not going to lie: (my parents) were not up for it at first. They hadn’t been up to SMU before, but when I took them up there, they fell in love with it, too.

(Watching the Mustangs’ 2015 season) was kind of hard, but you have to realize that for the coaches, it was their first year in. They haven’t installed the whole system, and for the players, it was the first year running it. We’re going to get better.