A member of the class of 2013, Vilaketi Salakielu is a bright and talented football player who loves to learn about the fundamentals of his sport. He applied many of those fundamentals at the All-Poly Camp last week and fared very well while playing offense and defense in various drills.
“It was a lot of fun over at the All-Poly Camp, and over here you’re kind of reminded of the fundamentals of the game and that’s what I like about it,” Salakielu said. “A lot of the coaches here really helped out with that and it’s something that I like to learn.”
Salakielu has mostly played defensive line in high school. He could be projected as an offensive tackle or guard at the next level, however. Meanwhile, he is LDS and thus grew up a BYU fan.
“I’ve just kind of been a Cougar fan all my life,” Salakielu said. “I’ve been keeping in contact with Coach Tidwell and Coach Kaufusi, the d-line coach. They want me to come up to their padded camp, and we’ll see what happens.”
Salakielu was invited to the NUC Top 100 Combine in Southern California. He was named among the camp’s top performers at the NUC and was also awarded with MVP honors. At the All-Poly Camp he was also named a camp MVP. When he heads to BYU this week, he expects to continue performing well.
“I’m expecting a lot of things up there that I’ve experienced here at the All-Poly Camp,” Salakielu said. “I’m expecting there to be a lot of great talent to compete against, a lot of hitting and a lot of learning of the fundamentals. From myself I expect to do well, but I have a bad blister on my foot and that’s been bothering me really badly.”
Salakielu intends on proving himself worthy of a BYU offer.
“Oh yeah, I’m hoping that BYU offers me because, like I said, I grew up a Cougar fan all my life,” said Salakielu. “That would be a dream come true for me, so I’ll go down there and do my best and see what happens. They’re just telling me to come up to the padded camp and see what happens up there.”