One of the most unique recruits in the 2023 class has figured out his top eight schools. Collins Acheampong has had a productive start to the year. The versatile pass rusher from Fairmont Prep in Anaheim has not played football over the last two years, yet he has become one of the most highly sought-after prospects in Southern California.

At 6-foot-8, Acheampong is a multi-sport athlete who has gained quite a bit of attention this offseason because of his potential as a football player. That has had college coaches rushing to offer him and get the high three-star prospect on campus for a visit.

He has continued to take several campus trips this spring, but UCLA was the school that started everything off by offering him first in the fall. The Bruins have been rewarded with a spot on his top eight list that was released this week.

USC, Oregon, Washington, Cal, Miami, Michigan and LSU are the other programs that have separated themselves for the Ghana native who only arrived to the United States a few years ago.

Acheampong has made recent trips to Arizona, Michigan, Washington and USC but he has also been out to UCLA on multiple occasions. He will again be on campus Thursday to see the Bruins in person.

Schools such as Colorado, Utah, Vanderbilt, BYU, San Diego State and San Jose also have offered him but are not part of his top group.

The junior came to the US to play basketball but his coaches urged him to give football a try in the fall of his freshman year to get him acclimated to team sports ahead of the hoops season. It has turned into a passion of his but his school cut its football program amid the pandemic leaving him without an opportunity to step on the field over the last two years.

He has continued to learn the game and work on his football skills in the absence of game competition. That has been enough for college coaches to take an interest in Acheampong.

“It’s a blank slate that they can work on and craft and mold to how they want,” Acheampong said about what he’s hearing from coaches. “Their ideas align with mine. Basically every school I’m talking to aligns with mine in terms of my development. Like I said, it’s go hard or go home. I want to go hard and get to the highest point I can achieve, which is get the best education and hopefully make it to the NFL.”

There are two things working in favor of the Bruins right now when it comes to what Acheampong is prioritizing in his recruitment.