Mikial Onu commits to SMU

SMU added another piece to its secondary equation on Saturday with the commitment of 2016 George Ranch (Texas) safety Mikial Onu.

Onu spoke with the HillTopics about his reasons for ponying up and it was a long list.

"I'm from Dallas, I know the Dallas area pretty well. I just couldn't pass it up," Onu said. "It's a great education, SMU is right up there with the best schools. It's close to my family, the environment and all the renovations they're going to do, the coaching staff and the energy they have. And then the players (David Moore, Eric Sutton and Christian Davis) that are committed have been hitting me up and are pretty cool."

I have verbally committed to SMU. Thank God!! Extremely blessed for this opportunity.🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/z0mbKdViPD— Mikial Onu#⃣9⃣ (@PrimeTime_DB9) June 27, 2015

Onu had many reasons for choosing SMU over his other finalists (Northwestern, Rice and Fresno State) but a couple stood out above the rest.

"I had a lot of good offers to schools with high academics like SMU but I wanted to be a part something special like they're building at SMU," Onu said.

Archie McDaniel was Onu's original recruiter at SMU but he also developed a close relationship with defensive coordinator Van Malone.

"It's a very open relationship. He tells me anything; he's very truthful," Onu said. "He answers questions well and there's no question he doesn't have the answer to. This morning before I committed my parents showered him with questions and he was very open and really polite about answering them."

It was to Malone that Onu first committed but soon called the head coach Chad Morris to make it official.

"I'd been talking to coach Malone for a while and I think he kind of had a hint but coach Morris was ecstatic. He was really happy and then coach McDaniel messaged me on Twitter saying welcome to SMU," Onu said.

Onu projects to play safety or corner for SMU. He is deciding between studying computer science or business. He will soon be back on campus to see the coaches again.

"My brother and I came for Junior Day so I know the campus and everything but I want to show my mom and dad so we'll be out there like July 14 or 15," Onu said.