Ads by Google Ads by Google

VIDEO: UNIV OF COLORADO FOOTBALL RECRUITER IN TOWN LOOKING AT PLAYERS

The Colorado University “Buffaloes” at Boulder has sent a football recruiter to the Territory — to see the passion and intensity our youth have for football and to give them a chance to get know what the Buffaloes can offer.

 

 This past Monday, CU recruiter Andy LaRussa went out to the local high school football teams on island to talk to the Seniors and underclassmen football athletes about the importance of their academics and test scores to make sure their dreams of playing college ball come true.

 

Samoa News met up with LaRussa, who was escorted by Keiki Misipeka of Field House 100, Monday morning, and interviewed him about his journey to the island to find possible Buffalo prospects to play for CU — a PAC-12 Conference team.

 

“The number one thing I see, is the passion for football out here. The young men are so excited about the game and they play with such intensity and such passion for the game, that it just excites coaches like myself to come down here, and you can see how important it is to them” said LaRussa.

 

He added, “this is a great opportunity for both the students and for us, to come down here and recruit and get a chance to meet these people and let them meet us, and we can showcase what we have at Colorado, and also the great things that are here in Samoa.”

 

LaRussa told Samoa News his overall view of the Samoan athletes after touring all the local football teams is “the players down here are very athletic, I’m excited to see them go out and run around in practice, and they bring a lot of great qualities; I’m very excited to work with them.”

 

He noted to recruit, CU usually tries to meet the head coach and look at all the senior prospects and tries to find “guys with great academics, great character, and the ability to play football in the PAC-12 Conference.”

 

“I think there is a lot of great coaching going on down here. I think each program has it’s own distinct style which is exciting to see, each program takes the shape of their head coach, and there is truly a lot of great coaching going on down here,” LaRussa said.

 

“The most important thing is you can tell that the coaches really care about the players, and are looking out for their best interests.  They are all preaching the same thing— of going to school, making sure that they’re doing the right things off the field and that was encouraging to hear, how they are pushing that in every single school.”

 

This is the first time the CU football recruiter has come to American Samoa, and he told Samoa News he’s been welcomed with open arms by our Samoan people and culture… “it’s been a real privilege for me to come down here and I want to thank everybody for making me feel so welcome and for giving me the opportunity to come down here and come into your schools and get a chance to look at your players. It’s been a real blessing on my part, and I’m very excited and thankful for the opportunity, so thank you very much.”

 

LaRussa started his tour at Fagaitua, then on to Samoana, Leone, Nu’uuli VocTech, and finished off at Tafuna High School with the Warriors.

 

He was also able to see the American Samoa All Star Football Team, who just so happened to start their first day of practice for this year’s Samoa Bowl on Monday.