Tobi Oyedeji was named to the All-Greater Houston team as well as the TABC All-State Class 5A basketball team.
Texas A&M's basketball coaches were in love with Tobi Oyedeji, and the Houston Bellaire High School student was in love with Aggieland. In text messages to coaches, he'd count down the days until his time at A&M began.
He died after an early Sunday car crash hours after his senior prom.
Friends and coaches expressed shock at the death of the 6-foot-9 recruit remembered as much for his off-court goodness as his basketball skills.
"I wouldn't wish this on any kid, but that kid, I can't believe it," said Bruce Glover, who coached Oyedeji since he was a freshman. "If you ask him to do something, he'd do it. If he didn't like it, you wouldn't know it."
Houston police wouldn't confirm names, but said the driver of a silver Toyota Avalon "failed to maintain his lane" on U.S. 90 at 6:15 a.m., crossed a grass median and collided head-on with a Jeep, and then hit a silver Honda Civic.
The driver of the Jeep died on scene, the Honda driver had minor injuries and the Toyota driver was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston, where he died after surgery, said Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva.
Silva said the driver of the Toyota was a black male. A friend and teammate of Oyedeji said he was taken to Ben Taub, and that he drove a Toyota Avalon, either silver or white.
The crash is under investigation, police said.
On Sunday, word trickled through online outlets such as Twitter that the star recruit had been seriously injured and, later, that he died.
"Please pray for Tobi Oyedeji," Texas A&M basketball coach Mark Turgeon posted in a Twitter message Sunday morning. "He was in a car accident last night and is battling some significant injuries. He needs our prayers."
In the evening, he posted, "Today is a very sad day & difficult to understand. The world lost a great kid. Tobi was a special, special person."
Texas A&M coaches had a three-year relationship with Oyedeji, 17, and his parents, scoping him out since he was a freshman. Bill Walker, a Texas A&M assistant coach, said he wrote a touching Mother's Day tribute to his mom, telling her how much she had sacrificed for him.
"I am just so heartbroken for their parents," Walker said. "He was their only child. I don't know a family who loved their kid as much and did a better job than the Oyedejis."
Oyedeji -- who averaged 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks a game his senior year, when his team went 35-2 -- played in the High School Academic All-American Game in Azusa, Calif., this month. His off-court ability helped get him there: He kept his grade-point average above 3.0 and met other requirements.
In that game, he was named the American squad's Player of the Game.
"He taught me to keep my grades up ... and watch who I hang out with," said Sheldon McClellan, a junior on the high school team. "He was always a winner."
Another basketball player on the tight-knit team, Laurence Myers, called his friend a "big, friendly giant" with an easy-going sense of humor. People would often poke fun at his African last name, so for his theater class he did an entire play as an African king, reminiscent of the Eddie Murphy film Coming to America, wrapped in tiger cloth and carrying a long stick.
"He was always good to everyone," Myers said.
Glover, the high school coach, said he had taken a photo with the youngster the night before at prom, held at Westin Galleria. They developed a close relationship through traveling, including a trip a couple of years ago to St. Louis for a recruiting event called Nike Jamboree, where top high school talent gets together amid college coaches and scouts.
Glover said several recruiters came up to him and told him Oyedeji was refreshing, that he didn't have the ego that usually comes with talent, and would address everyone as "sir."
"He was a better person than he was a basketball player," Glover said.
The two often talked about "life after basketball," Glover said, and that's why the coach -- whose daughter attended Texas A&M -- and his parents guided him toward Aggieland: It would connect him with a vibrant network of former students and further chances of success.
Oyedeji planned to study engineering. His name on his Facebook page was "Tobi AggieBound Oyedeji."
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