In February 2017, I emailed the coaching staff about two kids from Mississippi named Galen Smith II and Galen "Tolu" Smith III. Yes, they have the same names and they are brothers. Galen Jr is a 6'7 SF/PF who graduated in 2017, but I was more interested in seeing Tolu come to BYU. You see, Tolu is a 6'9-6'10 220lb F/C. As I'm told from people in his stake back in Mississippi, Tolu's family is very active in the LDS faith and he has a 4.0 GPA. He didn't have a lot of attention though because he was still growing both physically and as a player. Last year he moved to Kahuku High School in Hawaii to be with his cousins and family because he is part samoan, maybe wanted to get more exposure, and then he eventually became the Hawaii D1 Player of the Year averaging 20.8 ppg. BYU coaches were great at answering my questions. They said that simply, BYU did not have a scholarship to off Tolu due to missions and other factors. I think Tolu would have done well at BYU and has good upside to have been a good role player at BYU, but instead went to Western Kentucky. Given the current roster, I think that Tolu could've contributed. In one of his interviews about going over to Hawaii from Mississippi, he says that he "had grown spiritually over there", all swear words are bleeped out of his highlight videos, and then the fact that he is a great person on paper and a great basketball player.

Guys are out there that are willing to live the honor code, have a BYU experience, and play big time basketball. He's definitely an under the radar guy, but I can see the potential if he has the right coaching staff to get him where he wants to be, and I would like to see BYU's staff take a shot at more players like this.

Here's some of Tolu's highlights:


Watch this video on YouTube



Watch this video on YouTube

Official Mix🔥🤙🏽Link in the bio. pic.twitter.com/9dgJ4OF7YZ

— Galen Smith III (@ToluSmith1) May 15, 2018

https://twitter.com/ToluSmith1/status/996452564550864896