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DT Tommy Togiai (Barrel Strong, Cleveland Browns)

https://www.landof10.com/ohio-state/ohio-state-tommy-togiai-stats-bio-2018

Idaho prep coaches glad Ohio State DT Tommy Togiai is now ‘Michigan’s problem’
Ryan Ginn
Posted 2 hours ago


COLUMBUS, Ohio — When 4-star defensive tackle Tommy Togiai signed with Ohio State and embarked on his college career, it was a great day not only for Pocatello (Idaho) Highland but also for the Idaho high school teams that no longer have to face him.

Over the course of his four years in high school, Togiai repeatedly confounded opposing coaching staffs to the point of surrender. He spent all game ransacking offensive lines, and on the rare occasion someone slipped past, he’d simply run them down. But that’s all in the past now, and it’s other coaches who will have to find a way to stop him.

“I was tired of seeing him, to be honest with you,” Pocatello Century coach Travis Hobson said with a laugh. “I’m glad he’s Michigan’s problem now.”

No Ohio State early enrollee had a more impressive spring than Togiai, who continues to show that he probably was slightly underrated as a recruit. He starred at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl against some of the nation’s top offensive line recruits, and once he got to Columbus he picked up where he left off.

In April, Togiai became just the second early enrollee under Urban Meyer to lose his black stripe in the spring. (Wide receiver Austin Mack did so in 2016.) With so many young players fighting for playing time at defensive tackle, there’s a chance Togiai will be able to carve out a role for himself in his first year on campus.

It wouldn’t be the first time, as Togiai also found his way onto the field as a freshman at Highland on a defensive line that included his older brother T.J., who signed with Idaho State, and Wayne Kirby, who signed with Oregon and also played at BYU.


Cont'd ...
 
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https://www.landof10.com/ohio-state/ohio-state-tommy-togiai-stats-bio-2018

Idaho prep coaches glad Ohio State DT Tommy Togiai is now ‘Michigan’s problem’
Ryan Ginn
Posted 2 hours ago


COLUMBUS, Ohio — When 4-star defensive tackle Tommy Togiai signed with Ohio State and embarked on his college career, it was a great day not only for Pocatello (Idaho) Highland but also for the Idaho high school teams that no longer have to face him.

Over the course of his four years in high school, Togiai repeatedly confounded opposing coaching staffs to the point of surrender. He spent all game ransacking offensive lines, and on the rare occasion someone slipped past, he’d simply run them down. But that’s all in the past now, and it’s other coaches who will have to find a way to stop him.

“I was tired of seeing him, to be honest with you,” Pocatello Century coach Travis Hobson said with a laugh. “I’m glad he’s Michigan’s problem now.”

No Ohio State early enrollee had a more impressive spring than Togiai, who continues to show that he probably was slightly underrated as a recruit. He starred at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl against some of the nation’s top offensive line recruits, and once he got to Columbus he picked up where he left off.

In April, Togiai became just the second early enrollee under Urban Meyer to lose his black stripe in the spring. (Wide receiver Austin Mack did so in 2016.) With so many young players fighting for playing time at defensive tackle, there’s a chance Togiai will be able to carve out a role for himself in his first year on campus.

It wouldn’t be the first time, as Togiai also found his way onto the field as a freshman at Highland on a defensive line that included his older brother T.J., who signed with Idaho State, and Wayne Kirby, who signed with Oregon and also played at BYU.


Cont'd ...

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BETTER KNOW A BUCKEYE: TOMMY TOGIAI TURNED DOWN FAMILIAR PATHS TO COME TO OHIO STATE

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We continue the Better Know a Buckeye series with its 18th installment in 2018. Here, we profile Tommy Togiai, a defensive lineman from Pocatello, Idaho.

TOMMY TOGIAI
  • Size: 6-2/300
  • Position: DT
  • Hometown: Pocatello, ID
  • School: Highland
  • 247 Composite: ★★★★
  • National Ranking: 55
  • Position Ranking: 3 (DT)
  • State Ranking: 1 (ID)
  • U.S Army All-American
  • Polynesian Bowl
Togiai will have an important footnote in Ohio State's recruiting history. He is the second player of Polynesian descent to sign with Ohio State, beat to first by Haskell Garrett in the previous year. He is the first player from Idaho to ever sign a letter of intent to play football for Ohio State. However, it took a lot of work to get Togiai to forgo closer options, prominently Washington, to come to Ohio State. Larry Johnson worked overtime to recruit Togiai to Ohio State and it paid off when Togiai announced his decision on Dec. 12 of last year.

I retell this recruitment below. Thereafter, I provide a scouting report for a defensive tackle who will round out what is likely Ohio State's best-ever defensive tackle haul in any recruiting class. I offer a projection that Togiai, who enrolled in January, will see the field in 2018 and close with some highlight film for the reader to watch at the end of the feature.

HIS RECRUITMENT
Tommy Togiai was a late offer in the 2018 recruiting cycle. Ohio State offered on Feb. 22 of last year and it was hardly his first high-profile offer at that point. USC offered a month earlier. Boise State, Oregon, Washington, and even Michigan had also extended scholarship offers. Togiai seemed like a longshot to join this class.

Idaho is not a hotbed of college football talent. The top player in the state in a given recruiting cycle might be a low-to-mid three-star prospect. Yet, that's not why Togiai was a longshot to join this class. Togiai could conceivably be the best high school prospect the state has ever produced but the landing spot for that best of the best from the Gem State is almost always one of the programs that had already offered Togiai before Ohio State. Previous landing spots for some of the best in Idaho in the past few recruiting cycles were Boise State, Oregon, USC, and Washington.

This is mostly a distance argument. College football players like to stay close to home and, given the location, a prospect from Idaho capable of getting major college football offers (ed. we'll be kind to Boise State) is going to select the location closer to home, all things considered. There was another messaging problem for Ohio State. Larry Johnson has been subject of retirement rumors for some time. Togiai was clearly interested in playing for Ohio State if he could play for Larry Johnson. However, Johnson needed to signal he would be around for Togiai to do that.

This belies that there was credible interest from Togiai after receiving the offer in February. It was so serious that Togiai flew on his own dime to Columbus to participate in Friday Night Lights in the summer. His high school coach, who was with Togiai on the trip, recapped the visit to Eleven Warriors.

I know that he was very wowed when he went on his unofficial visit... We were treated so well and given so much access to the staff. As coaches, we had a wonderful time. We drank to Kool-Aid. We loved it. Everything was really top-notch.

The high of the visit convinced Togiai to return again for an official visit. He was in Columbus for Ohio State's showdown with Oklahoma and left so impressed with the atmosphere, loss notwithstanding, that he almost committed on the spot.

However, there were lingering questions. The Larry Johnson retirement rumors were growing a little louder. Learning from Larry Johnson was a major selling point and, should Johnson have indeed announced a retirement after the regular season, it's likely Togiai is in Seattle right now practicing for the Huskies.

Further, Togiai admirably knew a snap decision made after an exciting visit is ultimately that: a snap decision. It would belie his interest in his other programs like USC, Utah, and Washington. All had some superlatives that Ohio State did not have (i.e. distance, Polynesian legacies) and Washington was a serious front-runner as a result through most of his recruitment.

This meant Togiai said he would wait until after he had taken his official visits and let the afterglow from them dissipate. However, it was a coaches' visit from Urban Meyer and Larry Johnson to Pocatello that ultimately forced Togiai's hand.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...ned-down-familiar-paths-to-come-to-ohio-state
 
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It's hard not to pick Ruckert as Biggest Impact Freshman, but I am going with Tommy. Plus being an early enrollee and the first player to lose his black stripe? Yeah, that means something.

This dude just seems to have a college ready body and a beast of a motor. He will be an absolute load to handle.

I think he is a special talent and will make a name for himself this season despite a fairly crowded DT position. I look at it this way - BB is a good player but he doesn't have Tommy's natural abilities. And Tommy looks like he is a little ahead of his classmates. And we haven't heard anything of Barrow. I think he will quickly take snaps from Hamilton. Besides BB, His biggest competition from upperclassmen is probably Garrett. BB is gonna play a lot and obviously Dre'Mont will have all the snaps he can handle but beyond those 2 guys in non-rushmen packages, I think Tommy has the ability to get a pretty good amount of snaps and something tells me he makes the most of them.

 
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Jesus man, he’s a fucking animal; he literally never stops driving. He has a really good closing burst once he establishes a path to the ball carrier.

He never goes backwards. Looks like a steroidal Heyward — constant disruption and redirecting the play. Can’t wait to watch him.
 
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