6-foot-7, 354 pound Ahina “Rocky” Aitogi is the most recent commitment to the BYU football program (Class of 2020), announcing his commitment yesterday via Twitter:
#BUILTNOTBORN #COMMITED 🦍 pic.twitter.com/q0txEhr47n
— Rocky Aitogi 🇦🇸 (@ahinaaitogi71) June 21, 2019
Aitogi is taking an extremely unconventional path to Provo. He grew up in Hawaii but moved during high school to Alaska and to attend a military academy in Anchorage. Aitogi didn’t play football in high school and upon graduation joined the Army National Guard. He had a scholarship offer to play D2 basketball but instead took a friend’s recommendation to move out to Utah to attend and play basketball at Snow College. While at Snow he went out for the football team and was set to play tight end for the Badgers.
Unfortunately, prior to summer camp he learned his mother had skin cancer so rather than playing at Snow he returned to Alaska to work as a commercial fisherman in order to provide for his family. After a few months of Alaska fishing he moved his mom to Las Vegas where he became a bodyguard, got married, and had a child. He was hired to bodyguard for rapper ‘Lil Pump, and traveled the world with him and his crew, with stops in Russia and the Dominican Republic.
After working and providing some stability for his mother he followed her advice and returned to school. He attended Long Beach City College in the spring of 2018 and was then recruited to play football for Fort Scott Community College (Kansas), where he played in eight games last fall. During the season Aitogi committed to play for Arizona and then flipped that commitment to New Mexico where he was expected to play this fall. But his path took another twist and he reopened his commitment and will sign with BYU instead, joining the Cougars in January. He will have two years to play two.
Aitogi is rated 3-stars by Rivals and ESPN. 247Sports rated him the 20th best offensive tackle nationally. He held scholarship offers from Arizona, Arkansas State, Colorado State, Delaware State, Kansas, Liberty, Ole Miss, and New Mexico. Aitogi has also seen recruiting interest from Arizona State, Florida, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, and USC.
| Hometown: | Kailua Kona, HI | High School: | Alaska Military Youth Academy |
| Class: | 2020 | HT/WT: | 6’7”, 354 lbs. |
| Position: | Offensive Tackle | 40 time: | |
| Profiles: | MaxPreps, HUDL | Bench/Squat: | 365/465 lbs. |
| Twitter: | @ahinaatogi71 | Vertical: | |
| Commit date: | June 20, 2019 |
If you have any additional information or insight about this recruit, please include it in the comment section below.
