"It Was the Full Package," Pulelei'ite Primus Commits to Vanderbilt Football With Humble Demeanor

Perhaps the appeal of Vanderbilt offensive line commit Pulelei’ite Primus is summed up best by a sequence of two tweets that he chose to repost.

The first of which is a video of an influencer walking around passing out hugs at Disney World titled “life is short, give a hug.” The second of which is an illustration of two bears mauling each other, one of which is labeled as an offensive lineman while the other is a defensive lineman.

Primus is as polite as can be and doesn’t appear to want to ruffle any feathers off the field, but when he gets on it things change. The 6-foot-4, 316 pound Midland, Texas, native has experience playing left guard, right guard and center, but isn’t afraid to put the guy in front of him on the ground.

“I’m 100% dedicated to my craft,” Primus told Vandy on SI. “[I’m] always ready to learn, grow and give 100% each step of the way.”

The Midland, Texas, native is a physically overwhelming force at the high school level that appears to have a chance to be an impact run blocker right away at the college level. Evaluators want to see some work done to his skillset fundamentally, but Primus’ experience as a power lifter, discus thrower and shot putter shows up on tape.

His highlight tape is a nearly five-minute compilation of the well-mannered high schooler jumping off the line and mauling smaller defenders in order to open up running lanes or give his quarterback an extra second or two. Even when he didn’t get off the line quickly, he stepped to his left, put his hands up and threw a defensive lineman to the ground.

It appears as if Primus’ profile looks good to a trained eye, too. The Texas native held 18 power-five offers but ultimately narrowed down his list to Vanderbilt, Houston and Washington before committing to the Commodores on a Saturday livestream.

“It was the full package for me,” Primus said. “The Union is a force of talented individuals and I’m blessed to be joining.”

Primus looks to be a fit for Vanderbilt in terms of what he can do on the field as well as with his demeanor off of it. He’s Vanderbilt’s fourth offensive line commit in Vanderbilt’s 2026 class and looks to be an impact player at some point.

The state of Texas–which provided Vanderbilt with starting running back Sedrick Alexander as well as STAR Randon Fontenette–is once again valuable for Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea.

“These questions about players from Texas. First of all, testament to the quality of football played in Texas,” Lea said at SEC Media Days. “Also how important that state's been to us in building or program.”

Whether Primus becomes a name worthy of being mentioned in similar conversations to Alexander and Fontenette remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain.

He’s going to do everything he can to make sure that he does.

“I’m 100% dedicated to being the best player and person I can be,” Primus said, “For this program and for [the fans].”