Manase Hopoi

Manase Hopoi has a reputation for making quarterbacks quake. As a defensive tackle for the Husky football team, he made nine sacks last year -- the fifth most of any player in the Pac-10. The same year, he led the conference in tackles for losses, and brought down Matt Leinart, the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner, three times in the same game.

This year, Hopoi made the watch lists for both the Rotary Lombardi and Outland awards given to the nation's best college linemen. Television announcers at every game have labeled him one of the brightest spots on the Husky defense.

But Hopoi almost couldn't bring his tackling ability to the UW. As a high school senior in Sacramento, Calif., he had trouble earning SAT scores high enough to qualify for college ball.

"I was on the verge of not getting a scholarship," he said. "But the UW stuck with me throughout high school, so I stuck with the UW."

The UW accepted Hopoi as a partial qualifier, forcing him to sit out his first season on the team. He was told he'd be able to earn back that year of eligibility if he earned his degree within four years.

That was back in 2001. This spring, Hopoi graduated with a degree in American Ethnic studies, qualifying him for another season of play.

As the son of immigrants from Tonga, an island group in the South Pacific, Hopoi was the first member of his family to get a bachelor's degree. He also was the first person in his Sacramento neighborhood to earn a college scholarship, he said.

"I'm really blessed that God gave me a lot of talent and a lot of gifts," he said. "Both to play football and to go to school."

Hopoi said he will embrace whatever NFL opportunities come his way, though his ambitions now extend beyond a career in sports.

"After football's over, I want to work with kids," he said. "As a kid myself, I didn't have many people around to show me the right way."

Already, Hopoi volunteers during summer breaks with children at Camp Clover, a social services camp in Seattle. His work there the last three years earned him independent study credit through the UW's sociology program, he said.

"The kids go from elementary to middle school, and I help them with sports," he said. "I've been going over there, playing with the kids, and helping keep them out of trouble."

In the future, he hopes to work as a parole officer or counselor to help "steer kids in the right direction," he said.

"We have many great opportunities here in America to do great things, but we have a lot of bad opportunities too," Hopoi said. "I think kids today see so much of the bad they forget how much potential they have. That's something I want to help them realize."

Q: What changes did you make in your studying habits to ensure your academic success at the UW?

Hopoi: I just took advantage of the resources they gave me. I met with tutors, got in real good with all my professors and visited them during their office hours. I took classes summer quarter to make sure I stayed on schedule. It went to staying in the library sometimes the whole night, trying to balance things.

Q: What do like best about working with younger athletes?

Hopoi: They really appreciate it -- they figure me as someone to look up to. I can only play football for so long, you know. They're the future. That's mostly my goal: to work with kids and help them mature. It's important they have people there who are good role models.

Q:Was it hard transitioning from Central California to a more ethnically homogenous region like the Puget Sound?

Hopoi: I came here with four other Polynesians I met on the team my freshman year. Me, Tui [Alailefaleula], Tusi [Sa'au] ... We were all in the dorms together. It made us more comfortable to have these other guys who were from similar backgrounds, who thought like us and liked the same things. We've got like 12 Polynesians on the team now. We're all tight.

Q: What do you do during the four weeks a year you have off from school and practice?

Hopoi: I try to go home and hang out with my family. Sometimes we stay here. Us Polynesians, we like to barbecue. We'll maybe head out to Alki Beach, and someone will bring out a uklele. Or, sometimes we'll just play video games all night.

Q: How does it feel to be praised so highly for your work on the field?

Hopoi: I don't really think about it. I just try and go out there and help my team out the best I can. My dad always taught me to be humble, so that's what I try and do.

Q: Does helping younger player help you grow as an athlete?

Hopoi: Oh, yeah. I have a lot to carry on my shoulders. It makes me step up, and think about things more carefully, both when I'm helping them and when I'm trying to help myself.

Q: What made you choose American Ethnic studies as a major?

Hopoi: My major was originally sociology, but I like working with minorities. I want to work with kids like that, relating to them and helping them stay on track.

Q: What would you say to people who don't respect football players, and think they're just brutes who steal all the women and the glory?

Hopoi: We don't really have a lot of time. It's hard a lot of days, when we have to get up and lift, then go to class, then watch film, then go back to class, then go to practice, and then back to doing homework. That's kind of the daily life of a football player -- a crammed schedule.