NOTE?He graduated in December and has already enrolled at Colorado and is taking spring semester classes; he will participate in spring drills.
HIGH SCHOOL?Earned All-America honors from Parade, PrepStar and SuperPrep as a senior, when he earned an invitation to play in the U.S. Army All-America game. SuperPrep ranked him in its Elite 50 as the No. 38 overall player (the fifth linebacker), and ranked him as the No. 5 overall player on its All-Midlands team; PrepStar named him to its prestigious Dream Team, as the publication ranked him as the No. 99 player overall (and as the nation’s No. 11 linebacker). The Tacoma News-Tribune named him to its Western 100 team (one of 12 linebackers). He was named on all seven ballots in making the prestigious Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Best-In-West Team (the top non-California player on the team, as he came in sixth in points). Rivals.com ranked him as the top prospect in Utah, the No. 2 inside linebacker in the nation and the No. 62 ranked player overall in the country; while Scouts.com also ranked as Utah’s No. 1 player and the No. 3 inside ?backer in the U.S.A. He earned first-team All-State (4A) and All-Region honors as a senior, after earning second-team All-State and first-team All-Region accolades as a junior. He did not play organized football until his sophomore year at Cottonwood. As a senior, he was in on 175 tackles (95 solo), with 33 for losses and six quarterback sacks, to go with 15 passes broken up, five forced fumbles, two recoveries and an interception; he also blocked three field goals. As a junior, he made 109 tackles (90 solo), with 48 for losses including 13 sacks; he had three interceptions, two forced fumbles, a recovery and two blocked field goals. He had 80 tackles and six sacks as a sophomore. In a 40-21 win over Cyprus his junior year, he had a monster game: 16 tackles, 12 of which were for losses including five sacks, as he spent most of the day in the opposing backfield. He had 10 tackles or more in 15 games in his career, and had at least one tackle for loss in all 24 of his prep contests. Cottonwood was 10-2 his senior season and 7-5 his junior year under coach Cecil Thomas, reaching the state quarterfinals after topping the 4A Region 6 League both seasons; CHS was 9-3 his sophomore year.
ACADEMICS?He is interested in Business (Management) as his major at Colorado. An early graduate, his grade point average was just a shade below 3.0 as a prep (2.95).
PERSONAL?He was born May 16, 1989 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hobbies include watching movies, playing basketball and outdoor sports. Two uncles (Sam and Fotu Katoa) both played football at Brigham Young in the mid-to-late 1980’s. Another uncle, Mario Fatafehi, played collegiately at Kansas State and spent two seasons with Denver Broncos (2003-04). In high school, he did some motivational speaking to groups of underprivileged kids.
(Last name is pronounced cuh-tow-uh)
