MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Darian DeVries and his coaching staff have been very active this weekend, landing two transfer targets from Illinios, Sencire Harris and Amani Hansberry. The addition of Harris and Hansberry, the Mountaineers now have Tucker DeVries, Noah Farrakhan, Sencire Harris, Amani Hansbery, Ofri Naveh, Aden Tagaloa-Nelson and KJ Tenner on the roster. Only DeVries, Harris, Naveh, Tenner and Hansberry are expected to remain with the team, however. With that said, head coach Darian DeVries and his staff have a lot of work to do before the start of next season.
One player who has become a quick top target since entering the transfer portal today is Felix Okpara. Okpara, a 6’11 center from Lagos, Nigeria, averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 block shots per game while shooting 58.6% from the field for the Ohio State Buckeyes last season.
On April 1st, Okpara announced on social media to say, “I’m excited and grateful to announce that I am 100% committed to running it back with OSU and Buckeye Nation!” However, Ohio State added former Kentucky center Aaron Bradshaw last week, which led Okpara to decide to leave the program.
Today, Okpara made the following announcment: “Thank you Buckeye Nation for two amazing years,” he wrote in a post to Instagram. “Thank you for embracing me and supporting me through the ups and downs. … I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to have represented the Scarlet and Gray. As I thought of the player I want to become and the program moving forward in a new direction, I believe it is in my best interest to continue my pursuit of my dream at a different school.”
Since entering the portal earlier, new WVU commit Sencire Harris followed him on Instagram, and Okpara followed him back. While this may seem like a small, insignificant detail, a lot of what happens behind the scenes happens on social media, particularly with college athletes. Okpara has not followed anyone else since entering the portal, so it’s very possible that he intends to come to West Virginia.
A four star prospect after his senior season at Branson Missouri Link Academy, Okpara came to Ohio State as the #74 national recruit and the #15 center in the 2022 class according to 247Sports.
