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CI Chats With Top OL - Ofa Mohetau

Q. "Hello, I'm Jonathon Huckvale, I'm from Rivals.com, I work for Cougar Illustrated, do you have a few minutes to answer some questions?"
A. "You work for Cougar Illustrated, huh? Mormons, yeah I'm cool with that."
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Q. What is your decision going to be based upon?
A. "My decision is about 90% academic, and 10% football."
Q. Did BYU's poor performance last year have any impact on your decision?
A. "I would like BYU even if they had gone 13-0, I love the school so much, so their performance this year has no impact on my decision."
Q. What do you think about Gary Crowton?
A. "Humble guy, real humble guy."
Q. "Tell me about your visit with Gary Crowton last week?
A. " It went really well, let me just tell you this, the one thing that separates Gary Crowton from all of the other coaches that have come to my home and I will always remember this, not only was he so humble, but when he came inside, he took off his shoes, and to me, that shows a lot about what kind of respect he has for other people."
Q. Does having a large polynesian background play any importance in your decision?
A. "I'm a competitor, and overall when looking at the big picture, it doesn't matter, but I have always wanted to go to a school that has a large polyneisian background, kinda like it is here at Euless, and I know BYU does, I really like Coach Kaufusi, and now that I hear Soi has committed, it has me really excited."
Q. How do you feel now that Soi has committed to BYU?
A. "I thought Soi was pretty much out of the picture with BYU, I thought he had dropped them and was going to Nebraska or USC or something like that."
Q. Were you ever out of the picture for BYU?
A. "I don't know where people got the idea that BYU was out of the picture for me, I never have said that, I have always really liked BYU."
Q. How do you feel about your popularity? Do you feel as if you should be rated the No. 1 OL prospect in the country?
A. "Honestly, I think I'm overrated, I don't think I should be rated as high as I am, I've played against some guys that I thought should be rated pretty high, and they never were even recruited, but I'm not a recruiter so I don't know."
Q. What's more important to you, athletics or or academics?
A. "If I could do with out one thing or the other (academics or athletics) I would do without athletics."
Q. What is the biggest factor that is playing into your decision?
A. "The academic factor is huge for me, because let's say I make it into the NFL, what happens if I get injured the first year, I'm out on the street, so I want to go to a school that ill teach me well."
Q. What do you plan on majoring in?
A. "I plan on majoring in Engineering."
Q. Is it hard to choose BYU because they aren't necessarily considered a "big time" school?
A. "Going to a 'big time' school is not important to me, I want to win of course, but I want to go to a school that has all the right stuff, academics, atmosphere, the right people, great tradition and a school that will respect my religion and my choice to go on a mission."
Q. You seem like a pretty humble guy.
A. "I don't want to let pride get in my way, you know like the Book of Mormon teaches, pride will ruin us all."
Q. Could you commit any time soon? Or are you going to take all of your visits first?
A. "I'm definately going to take my time with this decision, I don't want to rush it at all, this decision will impact what I do for the next 4 maybe even 7 years, if I go on a mission and redshirt, so I plan on taking all of my visits, and yes, BYU is still one of them." (January 17th)
Q. Are you tired of guys like me calling?
A. "I don't mind the phone calls from you guys, but the thing that really is starting to bother me, is that I will be sitting there in school, and coaches will just show up unexpectedly and pull me out of class, I don't like it."
Q. How old are you, in regards to your mission status?
A. "I'm still a priest, actually I'm still 17, so I have a year at where ever I go before I serve a mission."
Jonathon Huckvale is a sportswriter for Cougar Illustrated and Lacamas Life Monthly Magazine. He can be reached at jhuckvale@rivals.com.
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