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BYU football recruiting: Physical 2016 RB Wayne Taulapapa commits to the Cougars

The "bat signal" went out last night from BYU coaches, and reports are it was for a Hawaiian back committing to the Cougars.

By Brett Hein
YouTube

Tuesday night, BYU coaches tweeted the ambiguous "bat signal" type tweets to signify a recruit committing to the Cougars (using names of recruits before they sign letters of intent is prohibited). Wednesday, Kacey Robbins of Rivals reported the suspected commit was running back Wayne Taulapapa:

Taulapapa's BYU recruitment went under the radar, but we were alerted of his BYU offer back in February. Also holding offers from Colorado and UNLV, Taulapapa is an LDS prospect who is rated two stars by Rivals and does not yet have a 247 Sports composite.

RELATED: BYU's 2016 recruiting big board and map

According to MaxPreps, Taulapapa rushed for 911 yards in eight games as a junior last season, recording 17 touchdowns and a whopping 9.5 yards per carry average. Taulapapa has been a work horse for Punahou HS, rushing the ball 159 times in 11 games as a sophomore. In his first two high school seasons, Taulapapa had 31 touchdowns in 19 games.

BYU's pursuit of Taulapapa makes sense as he fits the legacy of big backs Robert Anae likes to have in his offense (think Manase Tonga, Harvey Unga, Algernon Brown). Taulapapa is not afraid of contact in the least, but has enough speed to gain yards in the open field.

Taulapapa represents the 16th commit of the 2016 class for BYU, but only the fifth on offense.

Here's a look at his junior highlight video:

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