Mr. President: Audie Omotosho to Balance Recruiting with Senior Class Leadership

For many high school juniors in Texas, the upcoming week means it's time for summer break. There's no such thing for Plano, Texas, 2016 wide receiver Audie Omotosho.

As a receiver with 31 offers—UCLA being the latest—Omotosho is using the summer to become more of a complete football player. He led Plano East Senior High with 31 receptions for 582 yards and four touchdowns as a junior, and he's planning on getting faster and stronger, as well as becoming even more of a vocal leader for his senior season.

Perhaps his newest title will assist in his word sticking with his teammates. In addition to being Plano East's go-to receiver next year, Omotosho also will be the school's senior class president. He earned the position on Monday after winning an election that included him and five other candidates.

"It's a great feeling, definitely a great opportunity for me to learn and grow as a person," Omotosho said. "I'm definitely excited to represent Plano East and my class and to accept the position."

Omotosho, who measured in at The Opening Dallas regional at 6'2" and 189 pounds, said he stressed the issues of social unification and improving school pride in his campaign. He said he's watched the school "split up socially" and he wants to have the student body do more projects collectively and not as individual groups.

Credit: Audie Omotosho

"It's not something you have to dig deep to see," Omotosho said. "Someone new can come to East and see some people doing this, some people doing that. It's not hard to identify. I want everybody to be on the same page, and with the mission I laid out, a lot of people responded well to it."

Additionally, Omotosho focused on improving extracurricular activities on the campus. He said he has ideas of making the prom better, putting an extra fire in homecoming festivities and adding to spirit weeks and pep rallies.

Omotosho is all about watching the energy level escalate at Plano East. It's the same attitude he has with his football team. He played on a team that only won one game last season, but four of the losses came by deficits of seven points or fewer.

The upcoming season, Omotosho said, has high expectations, particularly involving him and the 2017 duo of linebacker Anthony Hines III—who currently has 69 offers—and rising quarterback Miklo Smalls spearheading the leadership efforts.

"We're ready to show what we really can bring to the table," Omotosho said. "We didn't really have captains last year, but with me, Anthony and Miklo, we're ready to bring back the pride the school had in previous years."

While the future of politics is still to be determined for Omotosho, football is definitely a primary interest from a next-level perspective. He has offers from all of the Power Five conferences. Among those are UCLA, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Miami and Washington.

Omotosho said he doesn't have a favorite yet, and no timetable has currently been set on a verbal commitment or trimming his list. The idea of releasing a top 10 has been discussed, however, and he said that could happen before mid-July.

And what attracts Mr. President in a winning school? Omotosho, who ran a 4.56 40-yard dash and recorded a vertical jump of 39.2 inches at The Opening Dallas regional, said he's looking for a healthy balance of impressive athletics and dynamic academics.

"First and foremost, I am mainly focused on academics," he said. "I want a school to have a great business program, specifically. I want to major in business marketing.

"Second, I want to find a great offense for me to fit into. Like any other recruit, I want to make it to the [NFL], so it's important for me to find a place I can flourish and dominate. Third, I want to find a team with a good family vibe and an atmosphere with people who have the same goals and visions that I have."

Omotosho said he's made visits to Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, TCU, SMU and Arkansas State, and he's hoping to take summer visits to Iowa, Duke and Kansas, among other programs.

He considers the upcoming trips as an opportunity to get away as he prepares to make the Class of 2016 one of the best Plano East has seen in years.

"Officially, I took over [as class president] on Monday," he said. "It starts next year, but the real work starts now."

Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. All quotes and results from The Opening were obtained firsthand. All player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings. Follow Damon via Twitter: @DamonSayles