Ah-hoo! On the football pitch he prowls like Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London, or Tom Cruise's Vincent Launa slamming the eight ball into the side pocket. He's not swaggering and cocky like Vincent, goading his opponents into challenges they can't handle. Instead he is serious, studious and devout.
Though his family is from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, Haastrup grew up playing soccer on the playing fields of East London, where he was born and lived until he was nine. He and his mother and sister came to America, first to California, then to Katy, Texas.
He tried football in the 7th grade, but it didn't take. In track as a sophomore he ran a 10.7 hundred meters. He heaved the shot 52 feet. A coach suggested he try football again.
He'd grown and trained to be 6-4, 235 with that speed, a physical specimen. In the 200 he ran 21.7. His high school coach Mike Arogbonlo told The Athletic, “I really believe he’s a Sunday [NFL] player. That’s the kind of kid I think he is. If God could make a football player, he made Tobi.”
Tobi said to Jimmie Aggison of the Houston Defender, “I played a few games in seventh grade but stopped and focused on track. My senior year, my coaches told me this might just be a field where God will use me in."
"They always tell me how He has blessed me with size, speed and strength, all great attributes to use on the football field. They told me to not have regrets after high school and I felt God telling me to go ahead and try the sport so He can use me as His instrument, so I did.”
But when he first turned out as a senior, he was so new to the game he had to ask, "What is a first down?" He soaked up techniques and concepts. In his first game he had five sacks.
Within a couple of weeks he had offers from 20 colleges, from LSU and from Texas A&M where his sister studies neuroscience. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon, but professional football might delay that goal.
At Mayde Creek High, Aggison wrote that Haastrup studied the film of great edge rushers like Collin Hill of Texas and Jared Verse of the Rams. Ever the student. His favorite subject is math.
He also knew to draw on what he knew as a competitor. Tobi told ABC-13,
"Getting in that stance and exploding out, it was the same thing as running the 100. Putting in that speed and that power, it just brings about what I love."
Tobi Haastrup learned to play football in one season, turning out at Mayde Creek High in Katy, Texas as a senior. In his first game he had five sacks, but had to ask his coach, "What is a first down?"https://t.co/AKfWb0Q7oW
— Dale Bliss (@AutzenZoo_Bliss) August 4, 2025
“I’m still learning,” Haastrup said. “I want to find a school with a great coaching staff and a strong sports medicine program to help me develop as an athlete.”
In his first three games he posted nine sacks and 10 quarterback hurries. Without ever going to a camp or clinic he earned a four-star rating and a spot at the Navy All-American Bowl.
He chose Oregon after visiting for the Washington game on November 30, the game the Ducks erupted for 10 sacks, committing on Early Signing Day December 4th.
He said to Sam Spiegelman of Rivals, “I’m definitely a man of faith, so I looked to God before making any decision. Oregon made me feel at peace. It’s where I wanted to go and I definitely know It’ll be the right place for me and my piece of mind.”
NIL money wasn't at the heart of it. In an interview with Steve Wiltfong of On3, he talked mainly about relationships.
“To be honest just the connection,” Haastrup said. “I really feel in my heart I’m wanted in that place and everything they have lined up for me in terms of being a player and being my best and the fact the head coach is a defensive guy. The DC (Tosh Lupoi) is the outside linebackers coach. I’m pretty sure the head coach is my position as well."
“I’d say their transparency and hospitality,” Haastrup said. “If you have to describe what making you feel at home is, Oregon definitely checked all the boxes.”
By the end of his first summer in the Oregon performance lab with the training table and nutritional support, he's a chiseled 241, still exploding out of his stance.
First look at true freshman EDGE Tobi Haastrup 👀 pic.twitter.com/LIQevfbRES
— Oregon Updates (@oregon__updates) August 1, 2025
After three days of practice defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi said, “Tobi, athletically, exactly what we thought. Take a lot of pride in our evaluations. So felt strong of who we were getting there from an athletic standpoint."
"Tobi is still new to the game. So sometimes they’re the funnest guys to be coaching and kind of mold their technique."
Every year at Fall Camp there's a story that's hard to keep quiet. In 2025, Tobi Haastrup is that story. At the line of scrimmage he's the Werewolf of London. He'll rip your lungs out, Jim.