This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Having a bye week hasn't meant Utah football has been inactive.
More recruiting spoils for the Utes: Leuzinger High (Calif.) defensive lineman Semisi Lauaki is the program's latest commitment as of Monday night. The Tribune has learned the 6-foot-4, 240-pound end will likely serve an LDS Church mission before joining Utah.
Lauaki is a two-star rated recruit by Scout.com. According to Scout and Rivals, he sported offers from Boise State, San Diego State and Nevada.
Lauaki has several brothers, one of whom is a sign-and-send commit to Hawaii.
But that isn't the most intriguing fact about his family: After both of his parents died, Semisi and at least four of his siblings were taken in by a family in their church, according to this story by Fox Sports.
The story is worth checking out yourself, but one of the relevant portions:
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The Russells were granted legal guardianship and, two days before Thanksgiving of 2013, the boys moved in. Five of them — Samiuela, Amaleki, Samisoni, Semisi and Valu. (A relative of the Lauaki's obtained legal guardianship of Halo.)
"I think they're great," Valu said about the Russells. "How they just took some random boys they just met into their house. They probably only known us a month or two before they said they want us to move in with them. It's like rare."
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Now in the Ute family, Lauaki is the third sign-and-send commit in just the last week for Utah, which also added Nevada WR RJ Hubert and California LB Alema Pilimai during the bye.
In an inconsequential Utah connection, Leuzinger is also the high school former Ute All-American guard Delon Wright attended.
Here's a full list of the commits the Tribune has reported on:
2016:
2017:
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