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Tobi Oyedeji, a high school senior and Texas A&M basketball recruit, died Sunday in Houston. According to the Houston Chronicle, Oyedeji was involved in a car accident just past 6:00 AM after attending prom. He was 18.
Oyedeji was a star basketball player at Bellaire High School and had signed to attend Texas A&M in the summer. An only child, the power forward was first-team All-Greater Houston during the most recent basketball season and was a top 100 recruit at Rivals.
According to MyFoxHouston, Oyedeji's car collided head-on with an SUV Sunday morning. The driver of that vehicle was killed at the scene. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
Texas A&M basketball coach Mark Turgeon issued a statement on Sunday:
"The world has lost a great kid today. Tobi epitomized the term student-athlete. He was a very good student. He worked hard in the classrooms and on the basketball court and he was a terrific basketball player. This is difficult to understand and today is a very sad day. My heart aches for his mom and dad. Tobi was an only child and I would like everyone to pray for Tobi's parents."
The Aggies coach also wrote several tweets about Oyedeji's passing, calling on fans to pray for the teenager's parents:
Tobi Oyedeji dropped his last friend off after prom night, called his father Mike Kunle Oyedeji and told him he was on his way home early Sunday morning. The 6-foot-9, 220-pound, 18-year-old power forward from Bellaire High in Bellaire, Houston, Texas -- who was destined to be an impact player for Texas A&M in the fall and committed to studying engineering -- never made it to his house. Oyedeji was in a head-on collision shortly after the phone call home and died after attempts at life-saving surgery weren't successful Sunday afternoon, according to Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon. "He was an only child," a distraught Turgeon said of Oyedeji, whose parents, Mike and Nikki, are said to be in immense emotional pain. "This is really tough on them. I'm just hurting so much for his mom and dad right now." Turgeon said he didn't have any other details of the crash.
He said he was in California early Sunday morning when he received the first phone call that Oyedeji had been in an accident and was in intensive care heading into surgery. Turgeon said a few hours later, as he was boarding his flight back to Houston, he was told that Oyedeji died. "I loved that kid," Turgeon said. "I loved that kid. This is really, really hard." Turgeon said Oyedeji was the first player he recruited when he took the job three years ago. "This has been a three-year relationship, we were really close," Turgeon said. "From the first day he came to our camp, I knew he was coming to Texas A&M. He was going to be an engineer. This was the perfect place for him." Turgeon last saw Oyedeji at a workout in April and said he told his assistant coaches that Oyedeji was going to help the Aggies quite a bit next season. Oyedeji had been on campus apparently five to seven times a season in the past three years. "He was going to be a big part of our program," Turgeon said. "More than just basketball, his personality, his character, he would have helped us in so many ways. He was a great student. He epitomized the values we have here." Turgeon said details on the memorial service will be provided early this week. He added that the Aggies will do something in memory of Oyedeji next season, but to what extent and how it will be done is still undetermined.
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