Article on Grant High School's Christian Tupou from Student Sports.
Sacramento Sackmaster Christian Tupou
The most feared D-Lineman in Northern California next year might just be Sacramento (Calif.) Grant defensive end Christian Tupou. The 6-foot-3, 260 pound star garnered first team all-Metropolitan, all-Metro, and all-State underclassman honors for his performance last year. What makes Tupou so good?
"Christian is strong, tough, and quick off the line," Grant head coach Mike Alberghini said. "He has great tools; great feet. He's got a lot of character too. A lot of our kids have character but he stands out that way. And I think his play on the field was tremendous last year."
Along with some big plays on the offensive line, Tupou collected 89 tackles and 16 sacks in 2005.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), otherwise known as Mormons, Christian has been around the game his entire life and is from one of the top football families in the Sacramento area. His four older brothers, Mahonri, Sebastian, Sitani, and Fenuki, all played high school football in the Sacramento area – most at Center high school. The elder two went on to play at Sacramento State while, Fenuki Tupou a 6-foot-6, 330 pound prospect had a brilliant two seasons at Sierra College before signing a Letter-of-Intent with Oregon. Sitani is currently serving a mission.
"Most of his brothers went to Center but I think due to Christian's maturity, they let him attend school here at Grant," Coach Alberghini said. "He really is a terrific kid."
Of course, all the Tupou boys' are of Tongan descent – a culture widely known for excellence on the gridiron. Numerous programs across the Pac-10 have recruited LDS Polynesian players for years and the Tupou family, due to their size and academic excellence, are perfect fits. Christian currently has a 3.8 GPA.
"I just love playing," Tupou said. "I'm excited about playing college football someday too. I'm hearing from a lot of different programs, including USC, Cal, and Oregon in the Pac-10."
"Fenuki went to Oregon and I think he found the right fit for him," Christian added. "But I have to find the right fit too."
No comments:
Post a Comment