Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ray Brewer:

UNLV lineman will go from non-qualifier to college graduate

Liberty High product Fakauho should be part of Rebels’ defensive line rotation for senior season

2015 UNLV Football Media Day

Steve Marcus

UNLV players, including Tuli Fakauho, center, (68) arrive for a team photo during UNLV Football media day at Sam Boyd Stadium Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015.

2015 UNLV Football Media Day

The UNLV football coaching staff poses for a photo during media day at Sam Boyd Stadium Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015. Launch slideshow »

When Tuli Fakauho returns to Liberty High School, most eyes instantly focus on the UNLV senior defensive lineman.

He had the type of high school football career that players dream of, making him a notable at his alma mater because they hope to one day equal his accomplishments.

Their parents surely hope they equal Fakauho’s feats in the classroom.

He played four years on the varsity level at Liberty, helping transform the Patriots from a perennial loser to a local power, and being selected to multiple all-state and all-region teams.

During his junior season, they made the playoffs for the first time in the school’s seven-year existence. As a senior, they won the first of five straight Sunrise Region championships.

College coaches should have jumped over each other to recruit him. But, because he didn’t qualify academically, they stayed away.

He quickly realized the game he loved and sport he excelled in had another component. To continue playing, he had to become a better student.

“I had a couple of looks (out of Liberty) but they weren’t interested in me because of my grades. (The grades) were below average,” said Fakauho, who visited Liberty this week.

He would be forced to attend Coffeyville Community College in Kansas because junior colleges have loose qualification standards, starting the long journey to have an equally memorable football experience in college. He’ll get that chance in a few weeks with UNLV, where the 6-foot-1, 300-pound tackle is expected to be part of the defensive line rotation after having just 11 tackles last year.

Along the way, he learned the value of getting an education. At Coffeyville, he tried to pass classes to keep playing and earn a spot in a Division I program. Finally at UNLV it clicked — there would eventually be no game to play and he needed an education.

In December, a few weeks after the Rebels' season ends, Fakauho will leave UNLV with a degree in criminal justice. He hopes to land a job as a probation officer.

Most athletes who are non-qualifiers never make it out of junior college because poor study habits from high school are magnified when you are away from home in college. Others lose the desire because junior college football isn’t all too glamorous — empty stadiums, poor facilities and life in a small town such as Victorville, Calif., for instance.

And it’s not easy to be a student-athlete. There are early-morning workouts after late-night studying. When your classmates are at the library after class preparing for a test or writing a paper, athletes head to the practice field. They practice in the heat and get tired, then have to finish their studies. Even the best students would be overwhelmed.

Click to enlarge photo

Liberty High School football player Senituli Fakauho.

But, to his credit and speaking volumes about his desire, Fakauho matured in time to realize the value of an education. It’s his best legacy in football and something those players at Liberty should strive to equal.

“Now, when I look at it, I’m older and wiser. I’m using football to get my degree, really,” Fakauho said.

Before Fakauho becomes a probation office or whatever field he picks with his degree, there’s still some football to play. His teams at Liberty were often overlooked because they hadn’t established a winning tradition. At UNLV, which won two games last season and is projected to finish in last place of the Mountain West, first-year coach Tony Sanchez has some convinced the Rebels could become a winner.

Fakauho, again, would help start a football dynasty.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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