Leif Fautanu has high aspirations going into his first year at Arizona State after transferring from UNLV.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“I want to be the best center in the conference,” said Fautanu, who figures to be starting center for the Sun Devils after the departure of Ben Scott. “For me, personally, I want to win the Rimington (Trophy), which is … (given to) the best center in the nation. So, that’s my goal.”
Aside from himself, he also has big goals for the entire offensive line.
“As an offensive line, I want to have the goal of the Joe Moore Award, which (is given to) the best offensive line (in the country),” Fautanu said. “I know that a lot of people want to win this conference, especially in the O-line, we talk about it all the time. We want to be the best offensive line in the conference, and the only way we start to win games is with the offensive line.”
Leif Fautanu transfers to ASU. Below at center, you see him show the strength needed to sustain interior DL. Consistent sustain in the run game and anchor at the point of attack is essential if Leif is to make the jump from practice squad to active roster. #PortalProspects pic.twitter.com/MBuWR6CRVf
— Will Becker (@WillBecker_) February 7, 2023
The 6-foot-2, 305-pound junior earned an honorable mention All-Mountain West selection in 2022 after anchoring an offensive line that produced a 1,000-yard rusher for the second consecutive season. “He was the fifth-highest graded center in the MWC by PFF this season as a pass blocker and was not credited with a sack allowed on the season – one of just 21 FBS centers with at least 400 pass blocking snaps to lay such a claim and showing a marked improvement in the category after allowing six in 2021,” according to his ASU bio.
Fautanu also started all 12 games for UNLV in 2021 and four in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season after redshirting his freshman year in 2o19. The Honolulu native was also a preseason 2022 Rimington Trophy and Polynesian College Football Player of the Year candidate.
He said there are a lot of similarities in terms of scheme between UNLV and ASU.
“I’d say it’s kind of similar because both my head coach (at UNLV) and coach Dilly are from Oregon,” Fautanu said. “So they both have the same concepts. It’s just different verbage, which is very similar to me. So I fit right into this. The only thing that we do more of here is GT. I think a lot of what we are doing is just GT’ing, whereas at UNLV we’d do outside zone stuff, split stuff.”
Going into fall camp, Fautanu wants to improve on getting faster and stronger before the season starts.
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Brendan Mau is a college sports insider and general assignment reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on Twitter via @Brendan_Mau
