Tulsa gained its sixth 3-star commitment in the 2024 class when Lake Village (AR) Lakeside linebacker Aquavious Dunbar gave a verbal pledge to TU coaches on Thursday. The 6-foot-2 and 220-pound athlete credited his choice to the strong relationship he built with Hurricane linebacker coach Koy McFarland.
“The love that I got from the school when I went on a visit to Tulsa. The connection me and Coach Koy built,” he told Inside Tulsa Sports. “We talked every day. He made sure I was okay, always coaching me up and just showing me how he coaches, and that made me feel like Tulsa was home.”
While Dunbar excels as a running back and safety for Lakeside, Tulsa recruited him specifically as a linebacker, which is the position he was hoping to play at the college level.
“My strength is reading,” Dunbar recently told Otis Kirk of Pig Trail Nation. “I can read a lot of plays before they happen. Big eyes, I can see the whole thing and everything goes.”
Dunbar burst on to the recruiting scene with a breakout performance as a sophomore in 2021. He ran for 870 yards and 17 touchdowns on just 73 carries – an average of 11.9 yards per rush. As a safety, he recorded 47 tackles, 7 tackles for loss and 12 pass breakups.
Since then, Dunbar’s recruitment took off, picking up offers from Vanderbilt, Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas State, Tulsa, Austin Peay and others.
In nine games as a junior in 2022, Dunbar had 1,105 all-purpose yards with 18 touchdowns. He rushed for 879 yards on 114 carries and caught 14 passes for 87 yards on offense. He also averaged 23.2 yards on six kickoff returns.
Defensively, Dunbar had 45 tackles, three tackles for loss, three pass deflections and a forced fumble.
"He was the work horse on offense mainly last year due to our heavy senior class last year on defense," said Lakeside defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator Alexander Black. "Of 44 players, 23 were seniors. Dunbar was our emergency get-our-studs-on-the-field defensive package last year, mostly in the red zone."
Coach Black says Dunbar has an unusual combination of size and speed.
"Aquavious is the type of player that you have to identify his location on offense and defense because he is that special," Black said. "He loves the challenge of being the target and looks for ways to out-smart opponents to make plays or to set up teammates to make plays. He is a hard-nose runner who has enhanced his skill set from the previous years. Defenders will not understand if they will be bull nosed by Aquavious or be on their toes due to his athletic abilities.
