Hawaii once produced the No. 4-ranked defensive recruit in the country when Punahou’s Manti Teo signed with Notre Dame in 2009.
Recently, the islands have produced the Elite 11 winning quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa of Saint Louis, who signed with Alabama and led the Crimson Tide to a national championship, spurring a second-half comeback in a win over Georgia in overtime.
The top junior prospect in the state is Saint Louis defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele, who is one of four prospects in the class of 2019 from the islands ranked in the top 160 nationally.
Tuitele is in his own category, evidenced by his recent accolades that have quickly piled up, and is quickly approaching Te’o’s recruitment status.
In addition to recently being part of the first group of Polynesian Bowl All-Stars selected for the 2019 game, Tuitele was named to MaxPreps’ All-America team for juniors.
He has picked up four major offers in the last three days, including three from the SEC. SEC champion Georgia was the latest to offer Tuitele, which he announced today on Twitter.
ABSOLUTELY IN AWE!! BLESSED to have received an offer from the University of Georgia!! 🐶 #TrenchMob pic.twitter.com/cxFI28AwRW
— FAATUI TUITELE (@tuitele87) January 17, 2018
The Bulldogs’ offer follows offers from Florida, LSU and Illinois.
With those four offers, Tuitele is up to 25 total, surpassing Tagovailoa’s total. He’s the first player to hold at least 25 Division I FBS scholarship offers since Kaiser offensive lineman Michael Eletise had 41 before signing with Arizona in 2016.
Now listed at 6-feet-4 and 299 pounds, Tuitele is rated by 247Sports as the No. 2 defensive tackle prospect in the country and the 29th overall prospect in the class of 2019, regardless of position.
His offer sheet includes seven SEC schools (Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt) and seven Pac-12 schools (California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington) along with Clemson, Wisconsin and Notre Dame.
go usc
Notre Dame to play alongside Myron Tagovailoa Amosa who just Dominated USC🤙🏽
Stanford will only allow you to receive the scholarship if admissions admits him in. Ivy school with a strong football program, education is key boy, but the league pays‼️
It’s great to be a FLORIDA GATOR! Think Gainesville braddah!
He’s not just a great football player, he’s a scholar!!! 4.0 and above!!! He’s the real deal!!!
Just wait cause Bama is coming… thats the one!
Stanford is not Ivy League. PAC-12.
Good luck to this young man!
Congratulations young man. Any college or university you choose will be great. Go with your heart.
A Stanford degree will play dividends long past the shoulder pads are hung up, and the last time I looked, there were about 30 Stanford players playing on Sundays. The NFL is not the NBA, unless you are Tom Brady, there are NO guaranteed contracts.
I agree with ???…go to Notre Dame. Go Irish!!!
I would love for this kid to stay home…if not, Go Irish!!!
RRFL!
You mean he didn’t consider our Warrior football team? I don’t see Hawaii as one of the offers. Now with our Warriors with new and experienced coaches, I would hope he would consider Hawaii. But it seems, Hawaii was never considered.
Where did St Lulu recruit this guy from? Someone said Mayor Wright housing. McKinley school district. Don’t know if that is true or not.
Just wanted to put it out there that Manti Teo was the #1 defensive recruit in the nation in 2009. And number #1 or #2 across multiple recruit ranking sites ahead/behind QB Matt Barkley.
On ESPN top 300 in 2009 he was #2 recruit behind Barkley.
With that said, Tuitele could very well be the highest sought after recruit from Hawaii ever. So proud and happy for all the Hawaii kids getting noticed these days. I remember when Jason Ching was recruited by ND back then, it was a huge thing. Nowadays kids are offered scholies from big time schools year in and out. That says a lot about how times have changed.
A lot of people forget that Manti Te’o is still the most decorated college football player in history; winning 7 major awards in a single season🤙🏽
Playing for Notre Dame helped him more then any other college because all their games are televised and their history & education are unmatched. Manti, being a devout Morman choosing a Catholic school says it ALL about Notre Dame!
Nuff Said. GO IRISH ☘️
Congratulations! Follow your heart! And, no matter where you go you will be successful academically and athletically! Don’t be a follower especially being influence by an idol! Be a leader, your own idol like we all know you are at STL! You are destine for success so lead and your brothers will follow! Good luck in your future young man!
St. Nick will come into town again! Only right that you go from St. louis and play for St. Nick!