C/O 2022 OG Tapuvae Amaama Talks Recruitment

 

Tapuvae "Snoop" Amaama is a 3-star OG in the 2022 recruiting class, he holds 10 offers including BYU, Miami, Syracuse, & Virginia. He plays at Skyridge High School in Lehi, UT and is ranked as one of the top lineman and players in the state of Utah. 

Snoop tells me so far Hawaii, Syracuse, BYU, and Miami stand out to him more than others, he also is garnering interest from Ole Miss, Alabama, LSU, USC, and Washington who all want to see how he plays his senior year before they offer. He has been to a bunch of camps and personal workouts this summer to show what he is capable of. 

He really enjoyed Paradise Camp at Miami and had this to say about it, "The Paradise Camp was sick, they had a bunch of alumni come down there. Their alumni network is crazy, the have a lot of hall of famers and a lot of guys who have had 15 plus year careers, it's impressive". Snoop also visited a few schools including BYU, LSU, and USC over the summer and was excited to see what each school had to offer. 

When I asked about how location may affect his decision he said, "Not really, wherever I feel most at home with the coaches and the fan base, wherever accepts me and my family, that's where I want to be at". He also said academics are really important to him, since football is a short span of their lives, and the degree is really important so he can help support his decision.

He has built solid relationships with a few coaches including Coach Funk (BYU), Coach Justice (Miami), Coach Terry (Hawaii), and Coach Schmidt (Syracuse). Snoop is in contact with them almost every day and all want them on their teams. He says he wants to wait until February to make his decision, so he can focus on himself and his senior season. 

The main goals for Snoop next season are to get better and try to gain more athleticism so coaches can see he can be a mobile lineman and block on screens as well. He wants to win a state championship, and be the first one to bring a championship to Skyridge. He tells me he is 6'5 330lb and he can really play anywhere on the offensive line, his high school plans on moving him to tackle for the upcoming season. He also says all the coaches usually ask him about how he and his family are doing and don't really say where they want him on the offensive line, except for USC who want to see him play at tackle because of his long wingspan.

Snoop tries to model his game after current Lions rookie Penei Sewell, who he's been able to work out with a couple times. He says "Whenever I watch NFL, I'm stuck on the trenches. Everyone looks for the touchdowns but I just love to watch the line play". 

When asked about how it feels to be receiving recognition for all the hard work he has put in, he said "I'm grateful and blessed to be in the position I'm in now, not a lot of people see what's going on behind the scenes. This time last year, I had no coaches hitting me up and 0 offers". He has an amazing work ethic and it's one of the reasons he's as good as he is now.

A lot of friends & family call him Snoop, here's how he told me he got the nickname: " Growing up I was a big fan of the Charlie Brown show, the beagle on there, Snoop, I was big on him and the name just kind of stuck". Since I did this interview, he has received official offers from Liberty, Miami, Syracuse, Virginia, and BYU. I can't wait to see where he takes his talents for college and I know he will keep working hard to get there.

- Tyler Bannerman (@realtbannerman)