North Texas spent the late stages of its run to the Frisco Football Classic leaning on an offensive line that developed into one of its biggest strengths last season.
UNT added to what should be a stout front again in 2022 on Monday when it picked up a commitment from New Mexico transfer Leke Asenuga.
The former Fort Bend Bush product announced his decision with a simple message on his Twitter account early Monday afternoon.
“COMMITTED,” Asenuga wrote.
The 6-foot-2, 315-pound interior lineman spent two seasons at New Mexico and played in three games in each of those seasons.
Asenuga was highly regarded coming out of Fort Bend Bush and was rated as a three-star prospect by 247Sports. The website listed Asenuga at No. 22 on its list of the top center prospects in the class of 2020.
UNT was among more than 20 schools that offered Asenuga a scholarship coming out of high school, including Kansas, Houston and Boise State.
UNT center Manase Mose was a second-team All-Conference USA selection last season as a junior. Mose announced shortly after the Mean Green’s bowl loss to Miami (Ohio) that he will return for another season at UNT, which finished 6-7 in 2021.
All five of the offensive linemen who started in UNT’s bowl loss to Miami have eligibility remaining. Teeshaun Turpin, UNT’s backup left tackle, entered the NCAA transfer portal after the season and is the only offensive lineman on UNT’s two-deep who is not expected to return.
The group helped UNT rush for 283 yards per game during a five-game wining streak to cap the regular season.
Asenuga is the latest in a host of transfers who have joined UNT’s 2022 recruiting class over the last few weeks. UNT landed four transfers at the mid-term break — wide receiver Jay Maclin (Missouri), defensive lineman Tom Trieb (College of DuPage) and quarterbacks JD Head (Louisiana Tech) and Stone Earle (Abilene Christian).
UNT later added Central Arkansas safety Nick Nakwaasah.
Blinn College safety Bryce Linder announced his intension to continue his career with the Mean Green after visiting last week, giving UNT another player with experience who is set to join the team for the 2022 campaign.
UNT coach Seth Littrell said he and his staff would be active in recruiting leading up to the late signing period that begins on Feb. 2 when the Mean Green announced their mid-term signees on Dec. 15.
“It’s a little different this year,” Littrell said. “The past few years we’ve pretty much been done at this point. But with the landscape and the way it is, you want to have enough scholarships left over in order to make sure we find the best players.
“There’s going to be a ton of great players out there in January leading into February signing day. I think you can get some steals.”
Littrell said at the time that UNT had 12 to 14 more scholarships available to add to its class.
The Mean Green have slowly added what they hope will be immediate impact players since. Trieb committed shortly after UNT’s signing day press conference, while Nakwaasah committed earlier this month.
UNT landed another transfer on Monday in Asenuga.
The Mean Green’s class is currently ranked No. 13 out of 14 C-USA teams in 247Sports overall recruiting rankings that account for high school recruits and transfers.