Out of Tuimoloau's Shadow, Eastside Catholic's Taumoepeau Impresses at Recruiting Event
Go eat.
That's all JT Tuimoloau needed to say to his Eastside Catholic High School teammate defensive lineman John Taumoepeau when the latter headed onto the field for the recent recruiting showcase conducted by Ford Sports Performance.
In their three year as teammates, at Eastside Catholic the more Tuimoloau shined, the more his teammate played in the shadows. JTT was happy to hold the down-markers on the sideline and let JT make a name for himself.
And did he.
Out of shadow of the Sports Illustrated All-American, Taumoepeau emerged as one of the stars on a field filled with all-stars in Tacoma, Washington.
Taumoepeau took the words of encouragement from his teammate a step farther than just eating.
The two-time, all-conference defensive tackle dominated.
Early in the scrimmage, Taumoepeau dropped the Blue team's quarterback for his first of three sacks. The White team erupted, as did Tuimoloau, who dropped the down-marker and ran onto the field to celebrate with his teammate.
"We were hyped and loud," JTT said. "We ran onto the field to hype him up."
Taumoepeau welcomed the attention and continued to terrorize ball-carriers and QBs.
The 6-foot-2, 290-pounder produced an impressive stat line of QB pressures and run-stuffing, netting himself 4 tackles for loss, 3 sacks and 2 QB hurries against the Blue team.
"He's a true space-eater," said Trevor Mueller, SI/Husky Maven high school recruiting analyst. "His job has been essential in Eastside Catholic's back-to-back state championships."
Born in Tonga, Taumoepeau grew up just west of the International Date Line, seeing sunlight before the rest of the world. At Eastside Catholic, he's lived in the shadow of other players, including Tuimoloau.
Often referred to as "the other guy" on the Crusader defense, Taumoepeau gladly accepted his role and played in virtual anonymity. However, he hoped to have another productive season as a senior and pique the interest of colleges. Then the pandemic hit.
While 36 other states began playing high school football, Washington carried forward with a March start to football for the academic year.
Understanding the disastrous impact of a delayed season on college prospects for the classes of 2021 and 2022, FSP's Tracy Ford created the weekend workouts and Sunday scrimmage held the week before last
"Many kids are late bloomers or suffered injuries in their junior seasons or were behind seniors, and were unknown heading into their senior years," Mueller noted. "They rely on their senior campaigns to demonstrate their abilities."
Many Washington players would have been overlooked for scholarship -- an impact in particular felt by many inner-city prospects.
With Tuimoloau and Taumoepeau, suburban Eastside Catholic has had one of the best defensive 1-2 punches in high school football. As a run stuffer who was often double-teamed, Taumoepeau recorded 55 tackles last season compared to JTT's 134.
The showcase produced immediate results. Taumoepeau is now hearing from several Pac-12 schools. Among his suitors are Washington, USC, UCLA, Oregon State and Utah.