fThe Washington Huskies have offered Palo Alto High School (California) offensive tackle Ikinasio Tupou.  Rated a 3-star offensive lineman by 247Sports, the Huskies are the second Pac-12 school to offer Tupou this month.

“I got a DM in my first period class, English,” he said of how the Huskies initiated contact with him.  “I was just starting to do some schoolwork when I saw the message.”

The message was from Washington’s director of player personnel Courtney Morgan.

“He was asking me how school was going,” the 6-6, 255 pound lineman said.  “He also let me know that he was impressed by my recent film.”

Later on that day DeBoer gave him the official offer, his second Power 5 offer, with Cal being his first on October the 9th.  He’s also hearing from Oregon State, Colorado, Indiana, San Diego State, and Nevada. Ivy League schools of Dartmouth and Columbia have also reached out to Tupou.

“Courtney Morgan said that he’d seen actually seen my tape last year, my sophomore year,” Iki, as he’s know as his friends and teammate call him, recalled.  “I guess they wanted me to put on weight.  When they saw me with the extra weight they felt confident enough that they offered me.”

In 2020 Tupou was in the 220 pound range and moved up to 235 but is now up to 255.  Given his role as a defensive end and offensive lineman at Palo Alto High, his current weight is a suits him.

However, Washington is recruiting him as an offensive tackle.

“I don’t carry around any extra weight,” he said.  “I already have a good height and a frame that add some more good weight.  I move well because I don’t have sloppy weight on me.”

He’s planning on visiting the Washington campus the weekend of the Oregon State game the first weekend in November, and he’s working on the planning.

“When I started to watch college ball, Washington was one of the first schools that I noticed,” he said.

Part of the attraction was current Husky linebacker Daniel Heimuli who is from nearby East Palo Alto.

“I know that Washington has a strong Polynesian culture in the football program,” he said.  “On my team we have three Tongan players.”

He said that while the Polynesian culture is important and would be nice to have that connection it wouldn’t be a deciding factor in his decision.

“Everything is wide open right now,” he said.

With no other players from his school being recruited and that he’s not attending one of the private schools, Tupou and his parents are figuring out the recruiting process as things happen.  He doesn’t have his own hype man–or private school recruiting machine.

In the early stages of his recruitment he was sending out his highlights to coaches through direct messaging on Twitter.

“I really didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing to get my name out there,” he recalled.

But the move paid off and his name got out there.  His parents have also been instrumental with their support with helping on Twitter and taking him to various camps–and making sure that he maintains a high grade point average.

The schoolwork has paid off and Dartmouth and Columbia have taken notice, as well.

Now that his name is out there he is focusing on finishing the season strongly.

“I let my tape do the talking,” he said.  “I’m not doing anything to get my name boosted right now.  I’m playing ball, getting my film up, and whatever coaches like it, they can check in with me.”

And that truly is the story of how the Huskies found a jewel in Stanford’s and Cal’s own back yard.