Manukainiu has five early offers
Euless (Texas) Trinity finished as one of the top teams in the entire country this past season and the Trojans return a very strong contingent of players from that team. They will be hard to ignore in the preseason national rankings.
One of the reasons is defensive end Polo Manukainiu. The 6-foot-5, 253-pound junior played in a rotation along the defensive line a year ago but still earned all-district honors. He has added a handful of offers since the start of spring ball.
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"I have five offers right now," Manukainiu said. "Most of them came last week. Utah, Baylor, San Diego State, OU and Arizona have offered so far. I think UCLA and Kansas are both really close to offering me too. TCU is also close to offering. They're really interested."
Though he says most of the offers caught him a bit off guard, Manukainiu says the Oklahoma one was a little more expected.
"I talked to coach (Brent) Venables at Oklahoma and he offered me," he said. "It was last week too. I had been keeping up with them and they just offered me when they got my new number."
Manukainiua was unable to make any unofficial visits this spring but already has two on tap for the summer. Others could be in the works as well.
"I'm just focused on spring ball right now," he said, "but I'm going to a couple of places this summer. I'm going to an OU camp in June or July and then I'm going to a UCLA camp in June. I'll probably go some other places but those are the ones I'm sure of right now."
Though he was a standout on defense for Trinity this past season, the big junior will see some time on the other side of the ball as well as a senior.
"Most of the schools want me to play d-end but this fall I'm going to be our starting tight end too," Manukainiu said. "Arizona State and Michigan have said they're really interested in me on offense so far."
UPDATE: Arizona State offered Manukainiu just after this conversation on Wednesday evening.