Daniel Faalele’s quick rise from football rookie in Australia to the Gophers’ line

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
62,330
Reaction score
19,032
Points
113
per Tyler:

Two years ago, Daniel Faalele had never played a game of football in his life. Now he’s a starting offensive lineman in the Big Ten.

It’s not been the most orthodox path to college football for Faalele, the towering 6-foot-9, 400-pound Australian. The fact that Faalele was ever discovered in the first place by college coaches was fortuitous. The fact that he ultimately wound up playing for the University of Minnesota was a windfall for Gophers coach P.J. Fleck.

Faalele was first noticed while still living in Melbourne. When a football camp run by the University of Michigan came to Australia, the larger-than-life teen turned some heads.

“Primarily, they were looking for kickers and punters is my understanding,” said Kevin Wright, head football coach at IMG Academy. “Daniel was a guy that showed up for a workout.”

The rest is history. Wright and the coaches at IMG, a boarding school in Bradenton, Fla., with its own football academy, caught...

https://theathletic.com/615626/2018...gophers-offensive-line-img-academy-australia/

Go Gophers!!
 




Top Bottom