Oregon Football Freshman Focus: Offensive Tackle Kingsley Suamataia
Standing at 6-foot-6 and some 300 pounds, Oregon freshman offensive tackle Kingsley Suamtaia looks every bit like a Division 1 lineman. But when you sit down and talk with him, his personality, humility and work ethic come to light.
With so much talent in the 2021 recruiting class at positions like wide receiver and quarterback, some may forget that the Orem, Utah native was the headliner of the Ducks' historic haul. Seeing that he came to Eugene as the top player from the state of Utah, where he played at Orem High School alongside teammate Noah Sewell, he's already generated some buzz since arriving on campus as an early enrollee in January.
Now already seven months into his college football career, it's clear what he's hoping to get out of the program, and it starts with hours upon hours of perfecting his craft.
"What I'm hoping to get is just, work. Work, work, work," Suamataia said at Oregon football media day last week. "My mentality is keep going. I don't work for days off. I don't believe in being given things. I was never given things."
With his transition to the college level have come lofty expectations, specifically with regard to following in the footsteps of his cousin Penei Sewell, an Outland Trophy winner at Oregon and top-10 NFL Draft pick.
But the young man is determined to write his own story and leave a lasting legacy entirely unique to himself.
"A lot of pressure, especially with everyone 'You're gonna be the next Penei, oh you're gonna be the next this.' I tell coach I want to be the next me," he said. "Penei, I have nothing against, Penei is my cousin, I love him down to birth. I just wanted to come here and be me. Be the next me."
Offensive Line Coach Alex Mirabal doesn't believe the direct comparisons are fair, but does thinks the freshman has sky-high potential.
"I don't think it's fair at all. I think everybody's different," Mirabal said during spring football. "I hope that Kingsley becomes the best version of himself and doesn't become the next Penei Sewell.
"I think he's got the potential to be a first-round pick down the road. That I will say and I'm not gonna shy away from that."
Suamataia is a self-described mama's boy, and moving away from his family to pursue a dream of playing big time college football has come with its own set of challenges both on and off the field. However, some familiar faces have helped create a home away from home.
"Coming from Utah, I got Jackson (Powers-Johnson) that came from Utah, playing with Noah (Sewell), he said. "It's just great seeing all of us grow up and all come to the same college, that's a blessing."
The level of competition on the field has ramped up significantly from what he was used to in high school, but so have the academics. Now a college athlete at a major program, he's seeing the importance of having his priorities straight.
"School has been different, a lot of time management, I gotta manage my time," Suamataia said. "In high school I didn't really manage my time, all I did was work out and go to school. But over here it's meetings, workouts, nutrition stuff--so it's been different, but I'm blessed to be here."
Statements like this tie in directly with what Mario Cristobal described as the many benefits that come with early enrollment. Players like "Kings", as Mirabal calls him, learn how to balance the grind with all of the other added dimensions that come with being a college student athlete.
The coaching staff clearly sees greatness in him, and now the mission becomes molding his skillset to the Oregon offense. He's fired up by what lies in front of him, and he's laser-focused on the competition.
"I don't feel pressure, I just feel like it's a new opportunity to work and get better," he said. "The starting spot comes up to whoever wants it more, George Moore, he's ahead of me and he's a dog."
The coaches have laid out the path to starting for him just like any other player that has been a part of Oregon's prestigious offensive line culture, and it's not as complicated as you'd think.
"They've gotta put it on film. It's not a difficult decision," Alex Mirabal said in the spring.
If you watch him play, you'll see a player who routinely tosses around linebackers and defensive linemen and plunges every bit of his 300 plus-pound frame both into and on top of his blocking assignment.
All that makes it a bit surprising to see how soft spoken he is when you sit down and have a conversation with him like I did. But what isn't soft in any form or fashion, is what he likes about doing the dirty work up front and going to war with his fellow offensive linemen.
"I love putting guys in the ground, honestly," Suamataia said. "I just love the contact, constantly contact right off the ball. I just like getting physical-- it's a whole new mentality.
"Especially when I came to college and I played my first spring game. It's just a different mentality that I just had a click. I just had a click and I was rolling."
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