Four-star Texas offensive tackle Akinola Ogunbiyi committed to Texas A&M on June 2, 2018, at 15 years old. Then his mother had a stroke a few months later while his father is in Nigeria, where Ogunbiyi's family is descended from.
Texas A&M is about an hour and a half away from Sugar Land, Texas, where Ogunbiyi plays ball at Kempner High School. Being close to home and close to his mother was a priority, and Ogunbiyi had already developed a good relationship with A&M offensive line coach Jim Turner, who was one of two coaches retained by Jimbo Fisher when Fisher took the head coaching job before the 2018 season.