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Can Utah flip Cali back?

If Utah wants St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio, they’ll have to pry him from the Cougar claws of Washington State. Habibi-Likio is still listening to other schools, but is solid in his commitment to Wazzu.

“Things [with Wazzu] are going really well,” he said. “I haven’t set an official date yet, but [the] relationships are stable, everything’s going really solid. I’ve been seeing a lot of de-commits lately just from other schools. And we had one, a big one, [four-star receiver] Isaiah Hodgins, is a good friend of mine. But everything’s going well. I guess the relationships are fine, I’m so excited to go and visit and get back in Pullman.

“[The coaches talk to me] more about how fall camp is going and the expectations they have for this season. Just more of where I’d play if I got there and just kind of stuff like that. We talk more about [stuff] on the field, and some stuff off the field, how is school going, and how my family is, but mainly [there’s a] football focus. [I’m closest with] coach Mastro, Jim Mastro. He’s [the] running backs coach. He recruited me out of this area, so we kind of talk every other day, just about anything, like I said, family, school, football.”

Habibi-Likio then talked about the other Pac-12 schools that are still actively recruiting him, namely USC, UCLA and Utah. “I’ve been hearing from the two L.A. schools, USC and UCLA. And then the Oregon two, just kind of more Pac-12, nothing really out of that conference, but that’s about it. They’ll come to my games, a lot of teams will be at the games this season. [I hear from Utah] pretty much daily, or every other day. One of the coaches, the d-line coach Lewis Powell, he grew up with my dad and went to high school with him, so we still keep a close relationship.

“I’ve always thought of [my recruitment] as, if a school wants to recruit me, I’m going to be fair and give them a chance. I’m still keeping my interests open, but I’m committed to Washington State, and that’s where I feel like I’m headed. But I’m always open to schools that want to recruit me, because at the end of the day, I’ll be going to the college for four years, not the coaches, or anything like that. I’m planning on [taking all five visits]. I haven’t set any of the dates, but I feel that Utah and Washington State will be for sure two of my five visits.”

The three-star recruit grew up watching Utah games on TV, and has become more and more familiar with the program. “I grew up watching the Utes, they’re an awesome team in the Pac-12. I have a lot of family in Salt Lake, actually, probably more than any other state or country, I have a lot of family in Salt Lake City. I think it’d be nice just to go over there, see some family, check the place out, I heard the facilities are awesome. The coaches are great, I’ve talked to a lot of them. [I’d like to] just kind of get a feel for it, because I’ve never been yet, so I’d just like to compare it, I like to compare schools to Washington State, just to see what they have and what they don’t have and stuff like that.

“I think [Utah is] an amazing program, what I really like about them is they beat Michigan four times in a row (laughs). And I think that the Pac-12 is truly one of the best conferences, so I like the fact that they proved that, and they beat a Big 10 team. I just think they’re very, I guess you could say they’re go-getters, they’re out to beat teams, and you can tell how bad they really want to win, and I think it’s an amazing program overall.

Habibi-Likio grew up in a rough area in East Palo Alto, California, and said that football provided a healthy outlet for him and many other Polynesian athletes. “[Football’s] kind of become more of a lifestyle for a lot of Polynesians,” he said. “I grew up in San Jose area and also East Palo Alto. East Palo Alto’s not the nicest, it’s kind of like a small Oakland, if that makes sense. Growing up, a lot of my cousins played football, and it’s been something to keep them out of trouble. Instead of fighting and all that, they could release their anger out on the field. But it’s definitely become more of a passion and a lifestyle for us Polynesians.

“I personally have never got in trouble as much [when I was younger] and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s kind of amazing to see how a sport, it’s not even a sport to me, it’s a lifestyle like I said, how it can change someone or especially a group of Polynesians, in the Polynesian culture, so it’s pretty amazing. Let’s say Washington State, or another school comes, and they don’t have, which Utah and Washington State has a lot of Polynesians, but if I went to a school that didn’t have any [Polynesians], that wouldn’t affect my decision too much on a school. But I grew up around them my whole life, and of course, I’m half-Tongan, so I guess it’s just more welcoming, because our culture is welcoming and all about family and the brotherhood, so it would be nice to play with a lot of Poly’s on the team. The SEC is kind of lacking on the Poly’s, [it’s] more Pac 12 and a little bit of Big 10.”

Whatever conference he ends up in, Habibi-Likio plans to continue his pregame ritual of listening to classical music to help him prepare. “On the field I’ve been more of a calm kind of person, never kind of been super jacked up or hyped up,” he said. “So before the game, I actually listen to reggae and classical music, because if I listen to anything else I’ll get too amped up. [It’s] more classical music than anything, just to calm me down. I like to play calm, I’ve never been the type to talk on the field or talk mess or talk that. I just kind of play and I don’t really worry about the other team, I’m just all about my team.”

Habibi-Likio said he’d love to pick up more offers, but his sole focus heading into his senior season is on winning. “There’s nothing wrong with picking up more offers, and getting more options,” he said. “Because it’s great to have as many options as you can, especially to play Division 1, something that I’d love to do and I’ve always had a passion for. But definitely my main focus is just on St. Francis, on my high school team. We played in the state game and came up short, we also lost to Oak Grove [in the title game], and we’ve got them Friday. We beat them last year in the first game and then we played them a second time and lost, so it’s kind of a revenge game on Friday. That’s what I’m mainly focused on, is taking it week by week, day by day.”

NOTES

Though Habibi-Likio lives minutes from the headquarters of tech giants Google and Facebook, he said he’d like to pursue a career as a sports agent. “I was more thinking, maybe go to law school and I’d like to become a sports agent, after playing football,” he said. “Hopefully I make a lot of connections when I play football and built relationships with players -- if I don’t make it (laughs). I’ve got it all pretty set out … Though Habibi-Likio holds an offer from BYU, he is not a member of the LDS church. “I’m not Mormon, I’m Christian,” he said. “A lot of my family is Mormon, I actually have probably like five or six family members out on missions right now” ... Speaking of family members, Habibi-Liko has two relatives that play college football in the Pacific Northwest. “As of right now, I have one cousin that plays for UW, he’s a d-lineman, Vita Vea, he’s a d-lineman, he’ll be pretty big for them this year. And then my uncle (Mosa Likio), he plays for Portland State, and they actually beat Washington State last year, they upset them pretty big. And Luke Falk had a shoulder injury, I believe, just because of my uncle. So yeah, I don’t really say anything to him [because of that].”

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