Top 2019 recruit Mase Funa hearing from national powers

THE LATEST: Mase Funa had an absolutely dominant game in Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei’s season opener against Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.

Coaches have taken notice.

USC coach Clay Helton and assistant Johnny Nansen were on the sidelines for Mater Dei’s win that night and now the Trojans have decided to offer the 6-foot-3, 240-pound prospect in the 2019 class who could play defensive end or outside linebacker.

Funa, who has also been offered by Washington in recent days, was unstoppable in the season opener. He made numerous tackles, pressured the quarterback and his name was being called all night. It was impossible not to notice his production.

Those two Pac-12 powers along with BYU, Oklahoma and Utah have offered so far. The 2019 four-star prospect said in the last few days that Cal, Alabama and Notre Dame have started to show interest as well.

IN HIS WORDS: “So for both programs both coaches asked me to call when I could so I told them last week that I could after practice. I called Eric Ziskin from USC first and he answered the phone and then handed it over to coach (Johnny) Nansen, which we then talked for a bit about the game against Gorman and then he offered me. Then later I called coach (Pete) Kwiatkowski from UDub and same thing happened there.”

RIVALS’ REACTION: Watch out for BYU as Funa’s recruitment continues.

The 2019 four-star defensive end said this spring that he’s Mormon and since he’s originally from the state of Utah he would seriously consider returning home to play college football.

Plus, Funa has family connections there and his brother, Solofa, recently signed with the Cougars as well. Possibly playing together in college would definitely be seriously considered moving forward.

However, with his recruitment taking off, there’s no question Funa is going to look at a lot of other schools.

The offers from USC and Washington this week definitely captured his attention and if more national powers get involved in his recruitment then things could go anywhere over the next two seasons.