I visited his family my last visit back to Laie. He was in elementary or middle school still. This is a kid to root for. And his family is first class all the way.
Ku-J has been BYU since he could walk. When Bronco and Doman would come to visit the Te'os (Malosi and Manti) he would go running to that house just to be there with Bronco and Doman. His dad said said when he knew they were coming it was all he could talk about. And he wouldn't miss a game.
One sad part was that his older brother was a good player but not quite good enough. His plan was to serve a mission and come back and train and try to walk on. He never made the team. The day Ku-J got the offer from Bronco the whole family cried. It was amazing to see a dream become a reality for the whole family. Unfortunately the older brother passed away earlier this year which was a devistating blow. So Ku-J has quietly dedicated his BYU career to his brother.
So a funny story about this wonderful kid. When he was in pop warner, he was playing with kids three or four years older. His dad was on the sidelines watching. He noticed after every play he was taking a piece of paper out of his waistband and reading it then putting it back. When he came to the sidelines his dad saw the paper fall out and picked it up. On the paper was a list of names. Ku-J said it was kids that had put him down and teased him that he wasn't good enough and so on. And he was going to prove to each one he belonged. The funny part was that his dad thought it was funny and called it his hit list and then yelled to the kids that they were on his hit list. Some were his cousins who held D1 offers but little Ku-J didn't care. He was going to prove he belonged and from what his dad said he did.
One last thought. I watched as many of his HS games as I could and he is not the biggest and certainly not the fastest but he always read the play and got to where he needed to be to make the play. He is just one of those players that makes plays, especially when his team needs it most.
So I am ecstatic to see him in the 2deep for him and for his family and especially for his dad who couldn't be more proud of all his kids.