Pututau discusses his favorites
Cottonwood (Salt Lake City, UT) wide receiver Taniela Pututau recently released his top five, and Utah made the cut for the 6-foot-3, 185-pound prospect.
“[My top five is] BYU, Utah, Oregon State, Navy and Colorado. I [put it out] like a month ago, couple weeks ago,” he said. “I kind of shut down most of the schools that were still trying to recruit me throughout my senior year. But I still keep in touch with Washington State, that’s one of the other schools that hasn’t offered me that I still keep in touch with.”
Pututau went through each one of his finalists, discussing what he likes about each program. “For BYU, I grew up a BYU fan when I was growing up here in Utah, and I’m LDS, and I think that school might be a good fit just because of my values and stuff. And as for Utah, I have two other brothers (Howard and Fua) that signed there, one of them (Howard) is currently [on the team]. [Utah is] like five minutes away from my house, real close to my house. And I just felt like it’s home over there as well. But it could be different if I end up going away from home.
“For Navy, I have a good relationship with their coaching staff, and they’re really open to me, and they’ve kind of told me that it’s not just about football, there’s life after football, and that’s something that I might look into in these next couple months in my recruiting process. For Colorado, they’ve built a good relationship with me. At the end of my freshman year, I met some of the coaches, and it’s been good ever since. One of my teammates from this past signing class (Pookie Maka) signed there last year, and he’s there right now. He said he likes it up there, I’ve been up to Colorado a couple times. Oregon State, I’m really into Oregon State ‘cause one of the coaches, [co-offensive coordinator Kevin] McGiven, he’s a really good guy, [he] came and visited me a couple months ago, told me that they want to use me on offense at tight end. He kind of explained to me how they’d use me, and I think it’d be a good fit for me. It might be a little bit away from home, but it might be a good change for me, [I’m] still unsure. But that’s another option for me as well.”
Utah has a serious “in” with Pututau as his two older brothers (Howard ’14, Fua ’16) both committed to play for the Utes. Taniela (who goes by “Nela”) said his brothers are recruiting him as hard as anybody. “[My brother] Howard’s the one that’s currently at Utah,” Nela said. “He told me that Utah’s a good fit, he wants me to come play up there with him. It’s kind of [unique] to have all three brothers go to Utah at the same time. He told me the coaches there, it’s like family, and you don’t have to move far away from home. My other brother Fua, he’s on his mission, but every week he emails me and tells me that he wants me to sign with Utah while he’s on his mission, [that] that will make him happy. My mom’s really open to me, she doesn’t really care where I end up. I kind of feel like she’s leaning towards the University of Utah, but she always makes sure to tell me that it doesn’t matter where I end up, it’s my decision for my future. I always take into account my parents, their opinions, ‘cause they’re the ones that raised me. My dad, I know my dad wants me to go to BYU. I don’t know why, but I guess he wants one of us to be different. It will be a hard decision for both my parents and me.”
Having his two older brothers on the Hill has also given Pututau a great chance to familiarize himself with Utah’s coaching staff. “[I talk to] coach Scalley probably the most,” he said. “I talked with coach [Cary] Whittingham, the tight ends coach, [Kyle’s] little brother. Coach Pouha, coach Powell’s pretty cool. And the quarterback’s coach is kind of cool, coach Roderick. The whole staff is kind of family. Coach Scalley when we talk, he’s mostly asking me about, just what I told about my ACL injury. I was just afraid that I might lose my offer, but he assured me that Utah will hold it for me. He’s always a good guy to talk to. I know he really wants me to come to Utah. He’s kind of been there all the time, so he’s a good coach to me and a good mentor.”
Due to his size and athleticism, Pututau could potentially play offense or defense at the collegiate level. “I’d probably prefer tight end,” he said. “I don’t mind defense, but I’ve been playing offense most of my high school career and Little League, so it’s something I’m really comfortable with. I’ve played more defense these past couple seasons, it’s because the coaches like my physicality. [My position in college] wouldn’t really matter to me, but tight end is what I’d prefer.
“I like tight end because of the diverse ways you can benefit to the game. You can catch the ball, you can block. It’s kind of like playing running back and receiver at the same time. You can kind of do everything. It’s still physical, there’s still physical aspects to the [position], you’re not just out there running around, you’re benefiting in the blocking scheme, as well as getting open in coverages and catching passes. So I think it’s a good fit for me. That’s kind of what I’ve grown up [wanting] to play. Utah and Oregon State are recruiting me at tight end. BYU, I think they’re recruiting me as an athlete, they’ll see where I end up after I get back from my LDS mission, see if I gain weight or lose weight. Colorado’s recruiting me to play outside linebacker. And the Naval Academy, they’d let me choose where I want to play, they say I can play anywhere I want, anywhere I’m comfortable with.”
Pututau was recently hit with some adversity, suffering a season-ending injury on the last play of his team’s summer camp. “The last play of camp, we were in St. George, and I guess I got a little too hyped. I was on a streak, I kept scoring, it was a goal-line challenge, they kept tossing me the ball. And then the last play, we’re going against Desert Hills, I think I jumped a little too high, a kid came under and hit me straight under, and I flipped over and I just landed wrong.
“I thought it wasn’t nothing, but I couldn’t get up, I felt a pop in my knee. And then I went and got my MRI and they said torn ACL. I was really bummed out. I’m actually not going to be able to play my senior year, I had surgery like a week ago. [But] I’m [still] helping out my team this year, doing whatever I can do on the sidelines.”
Pututau plans to commit “after this season, when everything settles down and my recovery starts to come back, I’ll be able to make a decision after my official visits, probably between December and January.” The three-star recruit also went through his criteria for picking a school. “The top three things is, number one would be education of course, the major I want to major in is business, so I’ll compare all the business programs. Education is my number-one thing. I know Utah and BYU have solid education opportunities, as well as the Naval Academy -- that’s one of the reasons why I put them up there.
“Number two would be how I fit into the school, schemes and offense, and how they want to use me is really important to me. I don’t want to be going somewhere or playing somewhere where I don’t really like it. The third thing that’s most important to me, that I look for in a school is just an environment, around. I know that several of the schools don’t have the same values as other schools, like BYU. That’s really important to me. I want to stay focused in an environment that’s focused.”