Two years ago, according to BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall, assistant Steve Kaufusi happened to catch a pickup basketball game while on the tiny island of Tonga. There, he saw Motekiai Langi -- an enormous teenager with quick feet that belied his size.
On Wednesday, the Cougars signed Langi, who is now listed at 6-foot-7, 410 pounds.
This is Langi:
— BYU Recruiting (@BYUrecruiting) February 4, 2015
And this, courtesy of Eric Morrow and Tuhulu Football, is all the footage we can find of him playing football:
But we're not alone: Mendenhall offered Langi a scholarship with no one on his coaching staff having seen him play football. Instead, according to Mendenhall, Langi recently met with the coach for 15 minutes before the young man was to go off on his Mormon mission (Langi is a relative of junior Harvey Langi). The coach wasn't even expecting to offer Langi, but when he saw him, he couldn't pass up the chance.
"It's not a fat 410 pounds," Mendenhall said on signing day. "He is a solid, healthy-looking giant man."
That video sure backs up the claim. Mendenhall even compares him in spirit to Ezekiel Ansah, who was at BYU for academics before walking on to the track team ... then trying out for football ... then becoming the No. 5 pick by the Detroit Lions in the 2013 NFL draft.
"Football is a game and the rules can be learned," Mendenhall said. "I can't make [someone] 410 and 6-7. ... [But] I think if I'm any kind of coach at all and our staff is, there's got to be something we can teach that guy to do."
See all of what Mendenhall had to say about Langi:
H/T Deadspin
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