Besides playing for the BYU Cougars, what do Edward Fusi, Alani Fua, Bronson Kaufusi, and Solomone Kafu all have in common? It seems that the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame believes that these four players have a chance to bring in the inaugural Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award.
The Award
Th Polynesian College Football Player of the Year award is an award that is handed out by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame and will be awarded each year to the most outstanding Polynesian college football player. This is based not only on his ability, but also his integrity. The five finalists for this award will be announced November 20th and the winner will be announced on December 9th.
The Watch List candidates were selected on past performance and future potential. This is not a locked list so other players can be added as the season progresses. The finalists and the winner will be chosen by a selection committee that includes past football head coaches Dick Tomey, LaVell Edwards, and Ron McBride. They will be joined by sport anchor Neil Everett from ESPN, NFL Player personnel expert Gil Brandt, Hawai'i sportscaster Robert Kekaula, and Kevin Mawae. Mawae was a past president for the NFLPA as well as a Polynesian Football Hall of Fame inaugural inductee.
The List
A number of schools were represented in the list but more than one-third of the players came from BYU, Hawaii, and Washington. Each had four players named to the list. The players headlining the list include Marcus Mariota from Oregon, Alani Fua from BYU, and Su'a Cravens from USC. See the full list here.
BYU has continued to add players to watch lists all throughout the off-season and Fua continues to pop up on list after list. BYU fans should take heart that two of the four players from BYU are on the offensive line, where the team is perceived to be the weakest. Fua and Kaufusi are no surprise as fans have seen what they can do and already expect them to have a great year. With the continued success off the field, the hope is that it will translate to success on the field. It will be interesting to see how many of the players are on the list come November.
About the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame
The Inaugural class was honored on January 23rd, 2014 and including BYU great Kurt Gouveia, along with Olin Kreutz, Kevin Mawae, Junior Seau, Jack Thompson, Herman Wedemeyer, and Ken Niumatalolo.