This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The TribPreps team introduced our new series on Monday titled "Community Interviews," where fans are able to ask questions to the top in-state football recruits as National Signing Day on Feb. 3 rapidly approaches.
The first recruit to participate was Cottonwood's three-star defensive end prospect Fua Pututau. He has narrowed his top four down to (alphabetical order): BYU, Colorado, Utah and Utah State.
Before jumping into questions submitted by the fans, we inquired about a few things ourselves.
QUESTION: You narrowed your preferred list down to Utah, Colorado, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State on Dec. 4. Is that still your top five?
PUTUTAU: "I actually changed. I have a top four now. I eliminated some of them. It's Utah, BYU, Utah State [and] Colorado."
QUESTION: Why did you decide to change your top five again?
PUTUTAU: "A lot came up. I was supposed to take a visit to Washington this past week, but I dropped them so I called up BYU. There have been a lot of coaching changes [at BYU], so with the new coaching staff at BYU — I got more interested in them. Utah State, when Frank Maile came back over there, I got more interested. That's why I changed."
QUESTION: What attributes about those four programs interest you?
PUTUTAU: "They've been showing me a lot of attention — more than the other colleges, I guess. I just like their programs. They're close to home."
QUESTION: Is there a specific order or ranking for those top four?
PUTUTAU: "Probably not. I think they're all about the same right now, but since I've been changing my visits so far — I'd have to say BYU and Utah are probably the top two right now."
QUESTION: When do you plan on making your official commitment?
PUTUTAU: "I was planning on making it maybe two days after my last visit [next weekend]."
QUESTIONS FROM FANS
Sean Spencer (@seanspencer2000) asks: Is [Pututau] a mission kid?
PUTUTAU: "Yes. I would go right after high school."
T-Rex (@t_ricks96) asks: [What is] more influential in [your] decision: team success or chemistry?
PUTUTAU: "I think you need both because without chemistry there's no success."
ExtendWhitt (@jonnyj20) asks: What are the top three priorities for you in the school you choose to commit to?
PUTUTAU: "Probably one of them would be academics, another one playing time, and another one would probably be just playing in front of my family. ...I haven't really thought about what I'd be majoring in, but I was thinking about going into the engineering field."
ExtendWhitt (@jonnyj20) asks: What player would you say you resemble on the football field, or is there a particular player you pattern your game after?
PUTUTAU: "There's a lot. I like to watch a lot of highlights, so I watch a lot of Kyle Van Noy's highlights from BYU and a lot of Nate Orchard's highlights from Utah."
— Trevor Phibbs
Twitter: @trevorphibbs