Junior Amos Talalele had just finished a workout session when he received word from a football coach at the University of Nevada, offering him a full-ride scholarship to play Division I football. Not thirty minutes later, he received a second offer from the University of Washington, extending another full-ride scholarship to partake in the Division I football team.

“The first one came right after our workouts outside. I called the coach and he said, ‘I’d like to offer a full ride here,’” Talalele said. “I already had something scheduled with the coach from the second school, and he told me they wanted to offer me a full ride there, too. It was crazy, two in a row.”

Talalele has received offers from a total of four schools to play Division I football for four years on a full-ride scholarship. These schools include the University of Washington and the University of Nevada, which delivered offers in the same hour on March 1, the University of Southern California, which delivered its offer on March 3 and the University of California, Berkeley, which delivered its offer on March 5.

Talalele expressed the surprise he felt as he received two offers within thirty minutes of each other and his appreciation for the accomplishment.

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“It was a shock. I was really shocked,” Talalele said. “I was really blessed to have that. I worked so hard and it came through, so I was very shocked and humbled to receive them.”

Throughout his career, Talalele has played football for Santa Clara Lions Youth Football, Santa Clara Cougars Youth Football, NorCal Golden Bears Youth Football and Santa Clara Bruins Varsity Football. Talalele believes his many years of football experience have aided in his success on SCHS’s Varsity team.

“I started playing football at the age of six. I’ve been playing football my whole life,” Talalele said. “I think it helped me a lot, starting young, because when I got to high school, I was ready to play.”

According to Talalele, his family inspired him to start playing football, and making them proud motivates him to continue working hard to be successful in his football and academic career.

“I always thought if I went to a big school and got a college degree or made it to the NFL, I can make my mom and dad proud,” Talalele said.

Through highs such as winning awards and lows such as detrimental injuries, Talalele’s favorite aspect of playing football has remained the relationships he has built with his teammates.

“You gain a lot of friends that you’ll have forever,” Talalele said.

In order to get recruited, Talalele had to reach out to a multitude of schools through a variety of platforms. According to Talelele, this took extra effort due to a lack of recognition surrounding SCHS’s football program.

“I sent all my footage and film to them through Twitter, social media and Gmail. Since we have a small school, I had to do more,” Talalele said. “I got out to one of them, they liked the film, and they got to know me. I went to go visit Washington, and it was a great experience. I liked the coach and the coach liked me. He said I was going to be kept on his radar.”

Although his offers came as a surprise, they were not a complete shock to Talelele. Talalele had to first spend time becoming acquainted with the schools he had reached out to and communicating with them to help familiarize them with his experience and skills.

“I had been talking with them for a while now, so I was kind of expecting when they were going to offer something,” Talalele said. “We had just been building a relationship first, they wanted to get to know me before.”

As Talalele continues to receive offers, he awaits a verdict from the University of Oregon. He will make a final commitment to a school on National Signing Day, Feb. 1 of the 2022-2023 school year. Talalele explained his outlook on the future of his football career and his plans to go far.

“I do plan on at least trying to go to the NFL, and if I don’t, at least I’ll play in college,” Talalele said.

For Talalele, the motivation to execute these plans comes from the continued support of his family and the drive to be a role model for his younger siblings.

“They push me a lot, and I want to go far for them to show my little sister and my brothers that they can do the same thing,” Talalele said.