Pau’us season takes a miserable turn

Heading in to the spring and summer evaluation period last April, there weren’t too many players out West receiving more attention than Manhattan Beach (Calif.) Mira Costa defensive lineman Mataele Pau’u. Not much has gone right since for Pau’u and now the once prime prospect is just looking for any chance to play at the next level.

Pau’u, 6-2, 280 pounds earned all-state Underclass honors after his sophomore and junior season. He was hearing from schools all over the county and even had landed a couple of early scholarship offers during his junior year. Then came the summer camp circuit.

Pau’u attended the Nike Combine at USC, the Nike Camp at San Diego State and also camped with USC and UCLA and struggled at each. The lineman just lacked the same explosion and athleticism he had as a sophomore. He didn’t test well at all and didn’t fare too well in the one on one drills either.

His recruiting stock took a hit but it was nothing a strong senior season couldn’t rectify. Unfortunately, Pau’u only played in the teams first two games this year before an off the field incident changed his life around.

“My cousin and I were involved in a fight with someone and we were both kicked out of school,” Pau’u said. “It was self defense on my part, I was coming to my cousin’s aid and there was a series of meetings about the incident but I was still expelled. I’m at Leuzinger now but I can’t play the rest of the season and almost every school that was recruiting me has backed off expect for three.

“Arizona, BYU and Utah are the only schools I’m hearing from. They have all asked for game film of the early season games that I played in to determine if they still want to bring me in. It’s been a nightmare for me and I really miss Mira Costa a lot. I can’t believe this all happened but hopefully things will work out for me in the end and I’ll still be able to get a college scholarship when all is said and done.”

Academically, Pau’u has already qualified with a 2.9 GPA and a 970 score on the SAT.