Recruit Lifts 515 Pounds: Texas High School Student’s Impressive Feat Goes Viral

A college recruit lifted 515 pounds, and that moment was caught on video. That video has now gone viral, according to Jobs Hire. Tope Imade asked his coach to allow him to attempt beating a previous deadlift record recently, and the Bowie High School student made it his mission to complete the feat. He did not let his coach down.

The short 20-second video shows the high school student lifting the 515-pound weight off the ground and dropping it back down after a few moments. Everyone around him is cheering the student on, and Imade is now receiving a lot more attention from colleges looking to recruit players for their teams.

Imade had already received a few offers from colleges before the viral video, including Texas State, Arkansas State, Illinois State and Tulane, according to Times Picayune. However, after the video went viral, he received offers from Washington and Texas Tech. His coach shared on his Twitter that Tope also received offers from Nevada and San Diego State.

Imade’s lift broke the previous Bowie High School record of 500 pounds by Madison Akamnonu, who is set to attend Texas Tech next year. Will Imade join his former schoolmate the following year? He has not decided yet, but it is a possibility.

The recruitment period for Imade will end next February, so he has plenty of time to decide where he wants to go for college. However, according to Bleacher Report, Texas Tech is in his top three. The college was the first to approach him after the video went viral. The video has received more than 100,000 hits since its posting.

Imade shared about the experience.

“My coach kept challenging me to add more weight. He kept adding, and I kept lifting. Eventually, it got to 515, and I got it up. It was heavy, but I had my teammates there encouraging me. I didn’t even know my coach was videotaping. After the video, I started getting more interest. I think it had an impact on recruiting.”

Bowie head coach Danny DeArman did record the moment, and it could have happened sooner. The previous week Imade lifted 450 pounds, and he was ready to take on more. However, time ran out on that day’s session.

When the next opportunity arose, Imade knew he has to go for it. DeArman shared the achievement on his Twitter, and he spoke about the mission Imade pushed himself on.

“He asked me what the record was. I told him it was 500. He said, ‘I want 515.’ I whistled and got my players to gather around I told them he was going for a new record. When he lifted it off the ground and got it to his mid-thigh, he paused it, and all of the kids went crazy.”

Imade does not want to stop at 515 pounds. He revealed that he wants to lift 600 pounds before he graduates from high school. His coach thinks Imade could do it too. He has said that the high school student has not reached his full potential yet.

As it stands right now, Imade has a “325-pound bench press and a 500-pound squat.” He wants the opportunity to show others what he can do.

“I want to show I’m a great run-blocker. I’m also a great pass-blocker with a really good work ethic. I’m always going to attack the weights.”

This is not the first video from a Texas high school to go viral in 2015. A previous Inquisitr report shared a video of a high school drama teacher and his students performing their own cover of “Uptown Funk.” The performance was the result of a post-winter break assignment.

What do you think of Tope Imade’s deadlift? Will he be able to lift the 600 pounds he wants by the time he leaves Bowie High School?