Challen Fa‘amtau and mother, Margaret Fa‘amtau
The road from Farrington to Maryland had its share of speed bumps.
Challen Fa‘amatau made sure he kept moving forward. The Farrington graduate completed his junior-college career with an Associate’s Degree from Coffeyville (Kansas) this spring. On Friday, accepted a preferred walk-on (PWO) offer from Maryland.
“Oh gosh, I’m not even going to lie to you. I had to put my phone on silent. I never expected so many people to text and tweet,” Fa‘amatau said on Saturday via a phone call from Alabama. “To know that a lot of people are supporting from back home. I wanted to let people know I’m not done yet. I’m still pushing. I’m not giving up.”
Fa‘amatau was a herculean offensive performer as a Farrington Governor, a weapon as a ballcarrier out of the backfield and a pass catcher from the slot. He set off to Pima Community College (Ariz.) and wound up moving to linebacker. OK, Ray Lewis did the same when he went to college. In his heart, though, Fa‘amatau knew that his strength is at running back.
“At Pima, there was just some issues with the running backs coach so I told myself I’ll get my PT on the defensive side,” he said.
Instead of leaving as a freshman, he gutted it out. His family made sure of it. In nine games, he racked up 72 tackles and two interceptions as a LB, including a pick-six.
“My freshman year playing linebacker, I missed carrying the rock, catching it and scoring. My dad (Pio) is the one who kind of told me, ‘Don’t complain, you’ll get playing time,’” Fa‘amatau said.
He credits his parents for standing firm.
“They’re definitely excited for me, especially knowing I didn’t give up. I wouldn’t have done it without my mom (Margaret) and dad. They kept pushing me to never give up. There’s times when I fell done and they picked me back up. With the sacrifice they do to make sure I’m taken care of when I’m on the mainland and going to school. Especially going through the JUCO life,” Fa‘amatau said. “The times when I called my mom and dad, I felt like coming home, I miss home and I was only gone for two months.”
Challen Fa‘amtau and father, Pio Fa‘amatau
His family provided major support as he saw Pima and the rest of Arizona’s JUCO football conference shut down permanently. Fa‘amatau heard from Coffeyville and Garden City, two heralded JC football programs.
“Coffeyville realized how versatile I am, so they chose to leave me at running back. I had to find a new home. Garden City and Coffeyville are independents and they hit me up. I have a cousin, Tommy Woo, from California and he was going to Coffeyville. He was at Pima, as well. He plays defensive end,” he said. “I think they saw my high school highlights and they needed a back. They took care us. We had a dorm.”
At Coffeyville, Fa‘amatau had to evolve as a ballcarrier. At 5 feet, 11 inches and 217 pounds, he learned well under position coach DJ Lynn and rushed for 362 yards and a TD on 99 attempts.
“They run a lot of RPO. At Farrington, we just smash mouth: stretch, power dive,” he said. “I started at Coffeyville. We barely had plays where the running back goes into the slot. It was mostly inside zone, outside zone. We have some plays where it’s an empty set. but we rarely ran it.”
The patience and persistence paid off.
“I’m actually the first person in my family to go to college. I earned my Associate’s degree, now I’m heading to university which is something I always dreamed of. I wouldn’t have done it without my mom and dad, as well as the Tagovailoa family. They have a big spot in my heart and my mom and dad’s hearts,” Fa‘amatau said.
Maryland was one of three options for Fa‘amatau. It didn’t hurt that he has close ties with the Tagovailoa ohana.
“This goes back into history. Me and Tua have been best friends for a long time. When we meet people, we think of each other as brothers. Taulia and Myron, we say that’s our brother. Me and Tua were at Saint Louis together. I went there from fourth grade to seventh grade. I met Tua in fifth or sixth grade at Coach Vinny (Passas)’s camp. Our dads knew each other from back in the day in high school,” Fa‘amatau said.
The process was already underway when he finished at Coffeyville. He moved to Alabama to stay with Galu, Diane, Tua, Taulia and (cousin) Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (Notre Dame).
“Once I found out that Taulia was going to transfer (from Alabama) to Maryland, we sat back and thought, we can play with each other. Who would want to pass up that opportunity to play with your brother. Who he is as a person, he’s a true leader on the field, knows how to lead a team. A true example of how to deal with leadership,” Fa‘amatau said.
The combination of two Hawaii high school football standouts now with the Terps is new. In Fa‘amatau’s senior season at Farrington (2016), he rushed for 1,219 yards and 17 touchdowns, and caught 32 passes for 277 yards and three TDs en route to a Star-Advertiser All-State first-team selection.
That same fall, Taulia Tagovailoa was a sophomore with June Jones as offensive coordinator at Kapolei. He passed for 3,919 yards and 42 TDs with just nine picks in 13 games. He completed 320 of his 526 pass attempts. By the end of the ’16 season, Tua Tagovailoa was All-State offensive player of the year. Fa‘amatau was runner-up and Taulia was third in the OPOY voting. Taulia was also second-team All-State to his older brother.
Now, two of the three will team up in College Park, where former Alabama assistant coach and offensive coordinator Michael Locksley enters his second season as head coach.
“It’s been awesome. Coach Lock is a powerful man in what he does, in the offenses he ran at Alabama when Tua was there,” Fa‘amatau said. “He likes my versatility. I’ve improved my patience, letting my blocks develop. Going to a read-option offense, there’s more zone and you realize patience is a big key to finding holes and breaking through. Out of high school was straight power dives, you don’t wait for anything, get the handoff and go. But I’ve learned and I’m still working on it.”
The master of patience and efficiency might be New York Jets running back LeVeon Bell.
“That’s something I try to image going into a game. He gets skinny too, gets through some small holes,” Fa‘amatau said.
Maryland was 3-9 last season, including 1-8 in Big Ten Conference play.
“I’m excited for it. It’s something God has blessed me with and all I can do is leave it in his hands. I’m ready to go,” said Fa‘amatau, who also had offers from Eastern Illinois and Texas Tech. “I know they had some tough games with Penn State and Ohio State, but I truly believe this team is young and a coach like Coach Lock, I’m ready to go in, not stressed about anything, I know what he can do and what he’s done in the past. We’re going to work together and try and lead our team to wins. We’re going to have a vision of making school history. We think about championships, wins, just how we can give back to the community and program.”
The COVID-19 lockdown hasn’t slowed the daily routine.
“We have access to a weight room. Treadmills all of that. We work out Monday through Saturday. Sundays is kind of our off days,” he said.
On those off days, the guys hit the lake. Fishing is their new pastime (see below).
Lockdown staples
Top 3 shows/movies
1. Remember the Titans. “I’ve watched this a lot of times.”
2. Walking Tall.
3. Law and Order: Criminal Justice.
Top 3 foods/drinks/snacks
1. Double-Stuffed Oreos. “I like to eat it before I go to sleep. I can eat like a whole thing in one day.”
2. Chicken. “Fried chicken. There’s this place in Alabama, Champy’s. Tua and them showed me. It’s something else. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just so good. It’s better than Popeye’s and KFC.”
3. Pizza. “Meat Lovers from Pizza Hut.”
Top 3 music artists
1. Roddy Rich. “I listen to him a lot when I work out. I like ‘Ballin’.”
2. The Green.
3. Oldies. “Temptations. Luther Vandross. We do karaoke a lot. Tua can sing. I can’t sing.”
College major
Fa‘amatau: “Honestly, I actually got interested in business marketing lately, but I always had law enforcement as a second choice. The hard work my dad put in, you can tell he goes to work doing what he loves to do. That makes me feel proud and I think, I could do that one day. I wouldn’t say my dad had a tough life. He works hard knowing he would enjoy doing it.”
New skill?
Fa‘amatau: “I actually learned how to fish. Tua and Taulia taught me how. We go to a lake. We would have actual chicken liver for bait, or buy those little fishes and put them on the hook. Or get some worms. I would say it’s a 9 (out of 10). I didn’t think fishing would be that hard. I didn’t have the patience, but once I got a bite, I knew I had to do more. So we go fishing along with Myron. We go later in the day.”
Who is the best fisherman?
Fa‘amatau: “I would say Tua, he knows a lot about fishing. Whenever our lines break, he’s the one who’s fixing it.”
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