HS Rugby Talent in College Football
HS Rugby Talent in College Football
Cameron Griffin for ICEF rugby and hoping to play for UCLA football after his red-shirt season.
Former USA U19 fullback Nate Ebner is back in the NFL playoffs with the New England Patriots, just a couple of weeks after adding his endorsement to USA Rugby’s 7s team combine.
Ebner is one of a growing number of NFL players who played rugby in high school or college. One of those is, of course, former Highland HS standout Haloti Ngata. Ngata is an all-pro defensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, but is currently under suspension for using banned stimulant Adderall because, say reports, he was too tired after games and practice to spend meaningful time with his kids. Whatever the reason, Nagata could be back with his team this week, in time for the playoffs.
Not in the playoffs are the Cleveland Browns and cornerback Johnson Bademosi, who was a standout rugby play for Gonzaga HS in Washington, DC.
 Tavai. Susie Talman photo. |
 Wooching. |
 Tandy for Cal football. Michael Pimentel/GoldenBearSports.com. |
 Tandy for Cal Rugby. Christopher Warnock photo. |
As for the players who are now in college football: former HS All American and ICEF No. 8 Cameron Griffin is on scholarship at UCLA, although he redshirted his first season and won’t play for the Bruins against Kansas State in the Valero Alamo Bowl Jan 2. Griffin is certainly expected to make a contribution next season.
Jahlani Tavai (at right, Susie Talman photo) is a former rugby HS All American and is now a 6-4 210-pound freshman linebacker at the University of Hawaii. Tavai chose Hawaii in part because he would still be allowed to play rugby, just like his two younger brothers at Mira Costa HS in Southern California. UH was 4-9 this season. Their final game was a 28-21 loss at Fresno State, where former Cathedral Catholic rugby player Aaron Mitchell is a freshman on the offensive line. The former HSAA prop is just starting on a football career that saw the Bulldogs make the Hawai’i Bowl, where they were beaten by Rice.
At the University of Washington Hawai’ian-born Psalm Wooching is a talented 6-4, 225-pound linebacker. The sophomore is another former HSAA player and has suited up for the Huskies rugby team as well. He seems to have some support from his football coach, Chris Peterson. The 8-5 UW team plays Oklahoma State Jan 2 in the TicketCity Cactus Bowl.
Ed Tandy is a linebacker for Cal and the sophomore also is a flanker on the Cal rugby roster - a rare two-sport player, but something that happens on occasion, with Cal producing several of those types of athletes. Freshman linebacker Asai Tongilava is another former HSAA player now playing football, this time with Tandy at Cal. Cal football lost to BYU Nov 29 to finish 6-7.
Tempe HS prop and former HSAA player Kelepi Fifita is now playing defensive line at Northern Arizona. And don’t forget Paul Lasike, who is playing both football and rugby at BYU as a running back (football) and center (rugby). Lasike ended his senior season with BYU football having gained 364 yards rushing and 267 yards receiving with a total of 12 touchdowns.
How these players develop as athletes is difficult to predict. Neither Ebner nor Bademosi projected to the NFL when they first started playing college football, but there they are. Certainly both benefitted from some of the rugby skills they learned. The front row power that has donned pads for college is impress, and if some of those players return to rugby upon graduation, they could augment the national player pool significantly.
