Husky linebacker John Timu dominating more than just one field

Believe John Timu when he says: “I’m just taking advantage of everything being at Washington has to offer.”
The junior middle linebacker is looking to build on his breakout 2012 season, when he earned All-Pac-12 honorable-mention honors on the field and in the classroom.
He saved his best performance for the biggest stage, registering a career-high 15 tackles against Boise State in December’s MAACO Bowl Las Vegas.
Since then, life has gotten even better for Timu.
In April, he made history at Washington and became the first student-athlete to win the school’s prestigious Brett E. Baldwin Memorial Academic Scholarship for anthropology.
Past recipients include: Melissa Poe (2005), an environmental anthropologist who studies urban foragers, and Carl Lipo (1993), an archaeologist at California State-Long Beach who co-authored the book “The Statues that Walked – What Really Happened on Easter Island.”
“After winning it, I realized it was something special,” Timu said. “I didn’t know how much it can impact me, my teammates and even my family.”
Timu, who has a full athletic scholarship, won’t keep the $1,200 award, but doors began to open for him on upper campus. His major is American ethnic studies, but he discovered a passion in anthropology, which is his minor.
“It’s just something that caught my eye,” Timu said. “I took a class with professor (Holly) Barker my freshman year, and I fell in love with it. Just to study the culture of anything I want, from sports to my own people, Samoans.
“I’m just more self-aware of who I am and where I come from.”
After the Las Vegas Bowl, Timu and defensive end Hau’oli Jamora began research on a project that examined society’s perception of football players’ intelligence. In May, they were among more than 1,000 students to present their findings at Washington’s 16th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Wearing UW lettermen jackets, they delivered a 10-minute multimedia presentation on their project, “Decolonizing Education: Translating Football Intelligence into the Classroom” that attempted to debunk the dumb-jock stereotype.
Timu and Jamora criticized the media and video games for focusing on players’ physical attributes rather than their intellects. They also lambasted football players who reinforce the negative images with bad behavior.
“It’s disturbing how often athletes are compared to animals or described as savage or machine-like,” Timu said in a June article on the University of Washington’s website.
Timu, who has a 3.2 grade-point average, volunteered at a local elementary school last year and made visits to Seattle’s Children Hospital.
“John is everything you could ask for in a student-athlete,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He’s a role model not only for our guys on the team, but for every student on this campus.”
In June, Timu and 10 Washington student-athletes traveled to Tahiti as part of a 10-day, study-abroad class through the anthropology department. They taught English to kids and held sports clinics, teaching football and softball. A journey to French Polynesia was Timu’s latest exploration into his Samoan culture.
“I wasn’t aware of it,” said the Long Beach, Calif., native. “I just forgot all about my culture.”
Timu was a do-everything player at Long Beach’s Jordan High School.
“He never came off the field,” said Scott Meyer, Timu’s prep coach, who is now at Corona del Mar High School. “He never complained. He played quarterback. If we had to punt, he punted. Then he lined up at free safety. He did our kickoffs. He did PATs and field goals. He did it all.”
Timu declined offers from Oregon, Hawaii and San Jose State and committed to UW before tearing an ACL early his senior season. He arrived at Washington in the fall of 2010 as a greyshirt — an incoming freshman who delays enrollment — weighing 205 pounds.
The past three years, he has literally grown into his role at middle linebacker.
“I didn’t know what I was,” Timu said. “I was in safety meetings one day and then linebacker meetings the next. I guess everybody knew I was going to be a linebacker but me.”
He earned a starting outside linebacker spot as a freshman in 2011 and moved inside last season, where he had a team-high 91 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions. He now weighs 238 pounds.
Less than three weeks before the Aug. 31 season opener against Boise State, Timu knows exactly who he is on and off the field.
“I just keep learning about myself every day,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome.”
Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com.

Link

Preseason All-San Diego Section CalHiSports

First Team
WR Mikah Holder (Oceanside) 6-1, 170, Sr.
He grabbed hold of 42 passes for 825 yards and 11 touchdowns last season as the Pirates won the CIF San Diego Section Division II championship. He also was our highest rated player in the section in our preseason WR prospect rankings.

OL Noah Taele (El Camino, Oceanside) 6-1, 290, Sr.
Despite his size, Taele often is used as a pulling guard by the Wildcats. He was a first-team all-league pick as a junior.

DL David Moa (Kearny, San Diego) 6-4, 230, Sr.
With offers from schools like BYU and Colorado, he has put on some weight before this season and it should help him have an even better senior season.

LB Ricky Liuchan (Mission Hills, San Marcos) 6-2, 200, Sr.
A member of our All-State Junior Second Team last season, Liuchan has picked up offers from several schools, including Cal and San Diego State this off season. He was our highest rated LB in the section in our Top 25 LB Prospects rankings coming in at No. 9 overall.

DB Alijah Holder (Oceanside) 6-1, 170, Sr.
With offers from many schools, including Arizona and BYU, he nonetheless committed to Stanford back in July. Later in the month, we named him as our No. 6 DB prospect in the state.

Second Team
OL Miracle Tausaga (Mt. Miguel, Spring Valley) Sr.
LB Rueben Leasau (Helix, La Mesa) Sr.
LB Xavier Ulutu (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) Sr.

http://www.calhisports.com/2013/08/09/preseason-fb-all-san-diego-section/

Serra's Emerald Faletuipapai trying to lead Cavaliers to title

By Eric Sondheimer

December 10, 2012, 7:57 p.m.

If it's lunchtime at Gardena Serra and 6-foot-7, 360-pound offensive tackle Emerald Faletuipapai walks into a room, everyone hides his or her food.
"I eat anything and everything," he said.
Said Coach Scott Altenberg: "If there's food anywhere, it must be protected. He's in constant grazing mode."
Faletuipapai is so big that Serra had to order a special helmet to fit his head.
"It looks like a flowerpot," Altenberg said.
He also wears size 18 shoes.
Two of Faletuipapai's brothers played football for Serra. Emerald will be trying to earn a CIF state championship bowl ring Saturday when the Cavaliers (13-2) play Oakdale in the Division II game at 4 p.m. at the Home Depot Center.
Faletuipapai, who's Tongan, has a scholarship offer from Hawaii and is taking a recruiting visit to Houston. He's a leader on an improving offensive line that creates opportunities for versatile quarterback Jalen Greene.
Altenberg remembers Faletuipapai when he was a seventh-grader and served as a ball boy. "He was the hugest kid we'd ever seen," the coach said.
Said Faletuipapai: "They didn't know I was in middle school."
In 2009, Faletuipapai watched his brother Suli play on a 15-0 Serra team led by current USC receivers Robert Woods and Marqise Lee. Now it's his turn to play at the Home Depot Center.
"This year is a dream come true," he said.
Faletuipapai has many talents besides football and eating. He's in the school choir and plays guitar. He's the vocal person when the team sings before and after games.

SDSU's Jake Fely All MWC

Second Team
Jake Fely was named a second-team performer after recording 86 tackles, and leading the squad in solo stops (64), tackles for loss (11.5), sacks (7) and forced fumbles (2). Fely, who also has two fumble recoveries and a PBU, ranks fourth in the conference in both sacks per game (0.58) and TFL per game (0.96). He twice was named the MW Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 15 and Oct. 19), becoming the first SDSU player to do that since Joe Martin in 2006.

Honorable Mention
2012 Polynesian All American participant
Sam Meredith also was an honorable-mention pick after starting all 12 games at defensive tackle as a true sophomore, while helping San Diego State lead the league in rushing defense (140.2). He finished the regular season with 31 tackles, 4.5 TFL, one sack, a fumble recovery and a PBU. He led all Aztec defensive linemen in tackles, TFL, PBUs and fumble recoveries.

John Timu's Long Road To Defensive Captain

By Gregg Bell - UW Director of Writing
SEATTLE - Three years ago, John Timu shredded his knee as a 185-pound quarterback in high school.
Two years ago, Timu was sitting out a second straight football season. He enrolled late to Washington, in January, 2011, after having reconstructive knee surgery delayed.
Last year, four games into his UW career, Timu left Husky Stadium in the back of an ambulance while strapped to board in after a scary helmet hit.
Last Friday, coach Steve Sarkisian gathered his Huskies at midfield following a morning walkthrough practice to announce the players' voting for 2012 team captains. When he told them Timu was the captain of the defense, the Huskies roared for their sophomore who has persevered through so much.
"Pretty exciting," Timu said Tuesday following UW's preparations for Saturday's 7:30 p.m. opener against San Diego State (Pac-12 Networks television, the Washington IMG College radio network and here on GoHuskies.com with the only Huskies real-time play-by-play, pictures and analysis on the web).
When he was congratulated again on Tuesday for his captaincy, his eyes briefly lit up.
"Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise," he said. "But, you know, I've come a long way. And I think I deserve it.
"It's a big deal for me. It shows me that my teammates have trust in me and I just got to lead the system."
The high-school QB who arrived here as a safety before starting as a freshman outside linebacker is the 238-pound inside backer now, replacing departed 2011 senior and captain Cort Dennison as the quarterback of the Huskies' defense. Timu has gained 20 pounds for the role since last fall.
"Last year I was playing a little bit underweight and I was getting tossed around by the linemen," Timu said. "Since I have put on 20-plus pounds it's given me a little more muscle and a little more to take on blockers."
He is the Huskies' only linebacker currently healthy who played the position last season. And he's the one who will be calling out San Diego State's varying motions, formations and personnel groupings to a young, aggressive UW defense.
Justin Wilcox, Washington's new defensive coordinator, says he "absolutely" sees the quarterback in Timu when he plays middle linebacker.
"The game of football makes sense to him," Wilcox said. "For some guys it does and for some it doesn't. And that's a hard thing to judge when you recruit, how does football in that guy's mind work? For John, it's natural. You can see it. A lot of great quarterbacks are the same way.
"John does a lot for us. He is very important for us."
Wilcox doesn't believe he's ever had a sophomore captain of any defense he's been on. Not at Oregon, where he played defensive back. Not at Boise State or Tennessee, where he was defensive coordinator before coming to UW in January.
"Yeah, it is rare," Wilcox said.
"He played a lot last year. His presence on the defense has a calming effect for those guys. He knows what he is doing. He is confident in what he is doing. He can help a guy get lined up if he needs to. He moves in practices the right way.
"That's why they elected him captain."
The Huskies moved Timu inside during spring practice in April. Though he's not showing it, it all still feels different to him.
"It's new. It's all new," he said. "Last year we had Cort, and we relied on him heavily - which was our downfall.
"But I've learned to pick things up quickly. That's helped me out a lot."
So has his determination and refusal to be daunted by setbacks. Repeated, recently annual setbacks.
The youngest of four children by native Samoan parents accounted for 20 touchdowns as a junior quarterback and safety at Long Beach Jordan. That led to scholarship offers from Oregon, Hawaii and Washington entering his senior season of 2009. But in the second game that fall -- "seventh play," he said, remembering like it was last weekend -- he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his knee cutting awkwardly in the open field, without getting hit.
His parents are both unemployed, and he was playing without insurance. It took him four months before he could secure his own insurance for reconstructive knee surgery, after he waded through bureaucratic paperwork and processing.
Goodbye scholarship offers. All but one, that is.
"Everyone pretty much backed off - except for the Huskies," Timu said.
UW recruiting coordinator and special-teams coach Jonny Nansen went to Long Beach Jordan, and has friends who have known Timu since he was a tyke. He wasn't about to abandon him.
"Oregon and Hawaii, after that they backed off. But Coach Nansen was always there, checking in, asking how I was doing, making sure I was rehabbing and getting the surgery as soon as possible," Timu said. "I kept positive, and he kept me going.
"He's the reason why I am here."
Then last September Timu dropped his head on a helmet-to-helmet stop of California running back Isi Sofele for no gain in the third quarter of UW's eventual, last-second victory. The game was delayed for several scary minutes while Timu was strapped to a board and loaded into an ambulance that drove him off the field. Cal coach Jeff Tedford joined Sarkisian, eight medical personnel and the Huskies defense on the field near the linebacker. An ambulance then drove him off the field to the trauma center at Harborview Medical Center.
Was he afraid he may never play again?
"Had a flash of it. But as soon as I was able to move everything was fine," he said. "I was a little weak. It kind of shocked me a little bit, but as soon as I got in the ambulance I was able to move. So that gave me hope."
A series of MRIs, CT-scans at Harborview that night confirmed there was nothing structurally wrong in the head or neck. He was moving at the hospital, called home to tell his worried family - some members were in tears that Saturday after learning of his injury - that he was OK. He walked out of Harborview that night with what he likened to "a whiplash."
Still, he says, "it was scary." Yet he said he never had a why-me moment. But it did take a week of practicing and then his return game against Colorado in mid-October for him to feel back to himself, playing with speed and without much caution or concern for injury.
"I had to stay positive and just keep grindin'," he says now. "Injuries happen. They are part of the game. I just had to keep grindin'."
Through the knee reconstruction, the scary injury and ambulance ride, Timu remained as the Huskies have come to know him. Poised. Assured. And reassuring.
We aren't likely to see Timu exploding in a spasm of celebration while hovering over a fallen Aztec if he makes a big play Saturday night. He's more old-school, more composed. He's more apt to get back to the huddle so he can get the next call from Wilcox and put more teammates in the right place for the next play.
"He's a really mature guy," Sarkisian said. "Sometimes he doesn't show all the emotion some of us would like. But that calming effect, I think, is how he's been able to persevere so much."
Sarkisian said Timu's poised demeanor has even helped Huskies coaches.
"There is some natural leadership that comes out of him that I think guys recognize," the coach said. "It speaks volumes to his maturity."
From a smallish quarterback and potential Duck to a safety, then outside linebacker, inside linebacker and now captain and key signal caller to Washington's remade defense. Yes, John Timu is proud of his accomplishments not even midway through his Huskies career, though he's far from satisfied.
"Like I said, I've come a long way," he said. "Started at 185 (pounds) in high school. I've put on 20, 30 pounds in a couple years."
And now, middle linebacker and team co-captain as a sophomore.
"Yeah," he said, "it's a big shock to my friends back home."
Link

John Timu grows into central role on Husky defense

Timu moved from outside linebacker to the inside position and will shoulder the responsibility of calling UW's defensive signals.

By Bob Condotta

Seattle Times staff reporter

When Washington linebacker John Timu responds to a question with a "yes," he tends to punctuate the answer with the additional phrase "big time."
Big time, though, might also describe where the Huskies think Timu is headed as he enters his sophomore season.
Timu started eight games at outside linebacker last season, so he wasn't exactly off-Broadway in 2011.
But needing to fill the middle-linebacker spot following the graduation of two-year starter Cort Dennison, the Huskies looked no further than Timu, simply having him slide a few feet inside the defensive formation.
The transition isn't quite that simple, as the middle linebacker is generally entrusted with calling defensive plays and getting everyone lined up properly.
"We hope he is one of our leaders of our defense," said coach Steve Sarkisian. "He is a very mature kid, he has a really high football IQ. He's the center of the defense right now, so we're hoping for a big year."
Sarkisian said, in his eyes, moving Timu to middle linebacker from the strongside spot he played last season was a no-brainer. Timu played quarterback in high school, which Sarkisian thinks gives Timu an edge in knowing how to call signals before the play.
And while Timu arrived as a safety at roughly 205 pounds, Sarkisian felt he had the body type to get bigger. Timu played at around 215 last season, and says he's up to about 235 now. Sarkisian lauded Timu's work in the weight room, calling him "one of the top three or four guys in our program from an offseason standpoint."
"I think technique will help him to take the strength and then fit it with proper technique to take on blockers, to shed blockers, to make the tough tackles against the bigger backs and tight ends," Sarkisian said.
Timu's happy to do what it takes to get on the field, having missed more than his share of games the past few seasons.
He was the Player of the Year in the Moore League at Long Beach (Calif.) Jordan High as a junior in 2008. But in the second game of his senior season, shortly after committing to UW over offers from Oregon and Hawaii, he tore his ACL.
"I'd never even heard of an ACL injury, so there were some times I thought football was over," he said. "But I kept my head up and stayed positive."
It helped him, he said, that UW never wavered in its commitment of a scholarship, saying "it was a true blessing for those guys to keep their word."
He sat out the fall of 2010 as a "greyshirt" — a term for incoming freshmen who delay their enrollment — to further rehab the injury, arriving early in 2011, making him a true freshman last season.
He earned a starting role in 2011, then saw the injury bug hit again in a frightening manner when he suffered a neck injury in a head-on collision with Cal center Dominic Galas in the fourth game of the season. Timu was taken off the field in an ambulance, briefly unable to move, though sensation returned pretty quickly. He was later diagnosed with a deep stinger and missed only one game.
Now he considers the injuries distant memories. While the two linebacker spots on each side of him have been revolving doors throughout camp due to injuries to other players, Timu has been a rock in the middle, the one constant at a position group that may be UW's biggest question mark on a defense undergoing an extensive makeover under new coordinator Justin Wilcox.
"Everything is coming along," Timu said. "Guys are learning a new system — we bought in fast, and now we've just got to improve every day. We want to come out here and prove to the world that we are better than what we showed last year."

Link

After sitting a year, Toilolo eager to get dirty

The high hopes that Stanford's coaches and players had for tight end Levine Toilolo last season were ratcheted even higher when the redshirt freshman grabbed a pass for a 27-yard gain a few minutes into the opening game.
Those hopes were dashed shortly thereafter. A Sacramento State defender hit him low - which is where you tend to hit somebody who's 6-feet-8 - and two of Toilolo's knee ligaments were torn.
"He came in lower than I expected," Toilolo said. "I tried to lower my shoulder, but that's football. I felt my knee was unstable. I was hoping it wasn't serious, but the inside of my knee was on fire."
Eventually he had surgery and was out for the season. As the other Cardinal players enjoyed a 12-1 season, Toilolo hobbled on crutches and celebrated from the periphery.
Stanford opens a new season Saturday against San Jose State, and Toilolo can't wait. He has bulked up from 250 pounds to 258, and coach David Shaw said his blocking has improved as he's been able to get low, not an easy thing for a giant to do.
Toilolo and his fellow tight ends, Zach Ertz and Coby Fleener, can catch the ball. All four of Andrew Luck's touchdown passes in the Orange Bowl went to tight ends, three to Fleener.
Their main job, though, is to block. Stanford has had excellent blocking tight ends the past few years in Jim Dray and Konrad Reuland. They're both in the NFL, so somebody else will have to put defenders on their backs.
"All our tight ends demand a lot from themselves, blocking-wise," Toilolo said.
As in the past under coach Jim Harbaugh, all three will sometimes be in the game at the same time. Sometimes they'll line up wide. If the wide receivers don't produce the way Shaw wants, he says he'll have no compunction about dialing up more passes to the tight ends.
Toilolo will wear braces on both knees. "I don't care if it takes a tenth off his 40 time," Shaw said. "He's not here because he runs a 10.4 100 meters. He's here because he's a big target and a physical blocker."
Toilolo was a tight end and defensive end at Helix High in La Mesa, the school that produced Reggie Bush and Alex Smith (not to mention Bill Walton and the late Dennis Hopper). Three of Toilolo's uncles were NFL linemen, Dan Saleaumua, Edwin Mulitalo and Joe Salave'a (now defensive line coach at the University of Arizona).
The Stanford coaches considered putting Toilolo on defense, but the notion of using his imposing presence on pass patterns and blocking schemes was too enticing.
"It's pretty rare to see a guy that size who can move the way he does," wide receiver Griff Whalen said. "With his physical skills, it's kind of a mismatch no matter who's on him. It will be somebody who's a little too slow or a little too small."

E-mail Tom FitzGerald at tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/29/SPLR1KT3C6.DTL#ixzz1X77JAUL4

California's Inland Empire Preseason All Star Team

First Team Offense 
OL Lio Lafaele (Centennial, Corona) 6-4, 315, Sr.
OL Samson Kafovalu (Arlington, Riverside) 6-4, 270, Sr.
OL Isaiah Folasa (Santiago, Corona) 6-2, 340, Sr.
OL Sapule Ta’amilo (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta) 6-2, 270, Sr. 


First Team Defense
DB Su’a Cravens (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta) 6-1, 200, Jr.

Second Team (Alphabetical)  
DL A.J. Fanene (La Sierra, Riverside) Sr.
LB/FB Tony Hifo (Heritage, Menifee) Sr.
LB Victor Iosefa (Granite Hills, Apple Valley) Sr.
DL Ngata Tuihalamaka (Centennial, Corona) Sr.  

Servite has an ace linebacker in Butch Pauu

f quarterbacks, running backs and receivers who have been jolted by a tackle from Anaheim Servite middle linebacker Butch Pauu could see him in shorts holding a tennis racket, perhaps they'd feel a little better knowing their antagonist wasn't so tough after all.

He's not so tough on a tennis court, but when the pads go on, Pauu becomes a 5-foot-11, 218-pound dynamo who always seems to be in the right spot at the right time.

---

FOR THE RECORD:
High school football: An article in the Aug. 30 Sports section about Anaheim Servite linebacker Butch Pauu said Pauu had a sister who plays tennis at Anaheim Rosary. Rosary is in Fullerton. —

---

He has not missed a game the last two seasons, when, by no coincidence, Servite has won consecutive Pac-5 Division championships. He has committed to Brigham Young.

"He's a tough kid," Servite Coach Troy Thomas said. "He's been in a lot of tough battles."

And yet, Pauu's humbleness makes him appealing to friend and foe alike. Playing doubles for the school tennis team gives him a chance to work on footwork, but he looks out of place with his bulging muscles and intimidating physical stature.

His father convinced him to try tennis as a second sport to football. Pauu has a younger sister who's an outstanding sophomore tennis player at Anaheim Rosary.

"The joke going is that his sister can beat him in tennis," Thomas said.

Pauu, however, takes his tennis seriously. You can see the frustration on his face if a serve doesn't work out or a backhand falls flat. The opponent should feel somewhat confident that Pauu won't charge him like a quarterback about to be sacked.

"I always get a lot of different responses from coaches, always surprised to see me playing tennis or hearing I play tennis," Pauu said. "I think it's a good, funny laugh for them."

Tennis helps Pauu take a break from football, but it doesn't prevent him from spending hours in the weight room building up his strength. And he says he gains quickness from tennis.

"That's what we need to do as a middle linebacker, go side to side as fast as possible away from the big guys and try to get to the receivers at the same time," he said.

Pauu is Tongan, which means he has more cousins and family members than he even knows. Teammates joke that the Pauu rooting section at games is louder than the student section.

"It's so fun and cool to see my family there," he said.

And you never know who might show up to join the Pauu clan.

"Every summer, we have a reunion and meet someone new, 'Oh, hey, we're cousins.' It's awkward at first but cool at the same time," he said.

Pauu's height might cause some to wonder how he can be a dominant football player, but after listening to his response, it becomes clear how motivation and instincts take over.

"I just set the tone with the offensive linemen," he said. "I let them know I may not be the biggest linebacker that's 6-2, 6-3, 250 pounds, but I'm someone that's going to play all four quarters, all 48 minutes. I'm going to play for my teammates, play for my family. I'm going to hit them as hard as I can every play just to let them know it won't be just here or there, it's going to be every single time you come at me, I'm going to come and hit you back."

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Top linebackers
Su'a Cravens, Vista Murrieta, 6-1, 205, Jr. Hits and runs like a free safety
Salamo Fiso, Long Beach Poly, 6-0, 200, Sr. Was a summer sensation
Butch Pauu, Servite, 5-11, 220, Sr. He's physical, tough, durable
 

Channel Islands' Jeremiah Valoaga chooses to finish what he started

To stay or leave. An entire school was seemingly waiting to hear the decision of three-sport athlete Jeremiah Valoaga.

After his sophomore football season at Oxnard Channel Islands, the 6-foot-6, 225-pound Valoaga said he was wooed by Westlake Village Oaks Christian. It was the worst-kept secret on campus.

"One day at school, it was, 'Are you leaving? Are you leaving?' I'm not sure," Valoaga said.

His football coach, Gary Porter, admitted, "I didn't think he was going to come back."

Valoaga said he had the approval of his parents to transfer, but in the end, he stayed.

"I feel more comfortable here," he said. "To me, if you start something, you have to finish it. I started with this team and I'm going to finish with this team."

True to his word, Valoaga is back for his senior year, playing tight end and trying to help the Raiders improve on a 2-8 season. He's also a starter for the basketball and volleyball teams.

His athleticism combined with the fact he doesn't turn 17 until November makes him an intriguing college prospect. He can get a lot stronger because he doesn't get the chance to spend time lifting weights except when volleyball season is completed.

"He has a great attitude, one of the most humble kids I've ever met," Porter said. "He's just a great presence on the field."

Channel Islands likes to run to Valoaga's side of the field to take advantage of his blocking and will look to get him the ball on short patterns.

His success in volleyball and ability to jump provides help in football when going up for passes. He spent all summer trying to get stronger and gain some weight.

Porter is just thankful Valoaga decided to stick around. Teammates appreciate his quiet leadership.

"He means everything to this program," Porter said. "We haven't had college coaches walking around this campus in quite some time, and everybody seems to think you need to go off to a private school to be able to get recruited, and he's kind of proven, you know what, you get into the classroom and do your work, with God-given talent, you can go from anywhere."

Whether in the weight room, on the practice field or in the huddle, Valoaga is looked upon to set the example for other players. The fact he gets to finish high school with classmates and teammates he started with four years ago makes the opportunity to help the program improve even more compelling.

"I think we can do a lot of good things," he said.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Lakewood boasts five football players who will continue on at the Div. I level

From the LB Press Telegram

Justin Utupo perhaps sported the biggest smile in the group.

"This is a very historical day in my life, being the first in the family to attend a university and to be able to have the chance to go to a university like Notre Dame," he said. "It's just a special day for me and I'm very excited.

"My family's real excited and I just can't wait for the future."

Utupo said he fell in love with the Notre Dame campus.

"It was amazing," he said. "Me being Samoan, in my culture, we're very family-oriented and when I was there, that's exactly what it is, very family-oriented."

Keanu Kalolo is just thrilled that his playing days did not end when Lakewood lost in the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Pac 5 Division playoffs.

"I feel blessed to be able to go on and play football," Kalolo said. "Some people have to just stop their senior year. I look forward to playing a lot more football."

Other major Moore League football signings included John Timu (QB/LB) and Princeton Fuimaono (LB) - both from Jordan - heading to Washington. Kaelin Clay (WR) of Poly is going to Cal, Ezell Ruffin (WR) of Wilson to San Diego State.

Timu suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the season against Pasadena on Sept. 18. Timu, who was recruited by the Huskies as a safety, said Wednesday things are going well with his rehabilitation.

"It's getting better," he said. "Just trying to be patient."

Timu said he he believes he and his right knee will be healthy for next season.

"It's a new beginning, to start all over again in school and in athletics," he said. "I think I will be ready."

Artesia middle linebacker T.J. Taimatuia signed a letter of intent to play at Hawaii.

Jesse Callier, who rushed for over 3,000 yards for Warren, signed to play football at Washington. His teammate, lineman Augafa Vaaulu, will be off to New Mexico State.