Thursday, January 29, 1998

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
St. Louis' Tony Tata chases Waianae's Duane Miller
during action last season.

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The state's most
highly recruited player finally
commits to Nebraska

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

After a week of deliberation with his family and a visit last night from Nebraska head coach Frank Solich, St. Louis defensive lineman Tony Tata gave the Cornhuskers his oral commitment to accept a football scholarship from the national champions.

"Their defense is similar to ours," Tata said this morning. "They are always around the ball. I really like the program."

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Tata was the Star-Bulletin's Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time selection to the paper's all-state first team.

"He's a scorpion," a Nebraska assistant coach told the Star-Bulletin last week when it was first reported that the state's most sought-after player was headed for the Big Red.

Later last week, Tata said he had canceled all future meetings with recruiting coaches, including one with Nebraska assistant coach, George Darlington. Tata explained that he wanted to confer only with his brothers before making up his mind.

Besides Nebraska, Tata made recruiting trips to Arizona, Colorado, Utah and California.

He will join former St. Louis offensive lineman Dominic Raiola, who redshirted at Nebraska last season. Raiola is projected as a starter next season.

In 1996, his first year as a starter at left tackle for St. Louis, Tata had 16 sacks and 60 tackles.

Last season he had 10 sacks and 74 tackles -- 23 for losses. He also had 37 hurries and 19 knockdowns. He forced three fumbles and recovered one.

Tata has been timed at 4.72 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He bench presses 365 pounds, power-

cleans more than 275 and squats more than 450.

Tata is the fourth defensive lineman from the 12-time Oahu Prep Bowl championship program to commit this recruiting season.

Earlier commitments were made by first-team all-stater La'anui Correa to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, second-team all-stater Sam Taulealea to Colorado, and second-team all-stater Ben Alualu to Arizona.

Two other St. Louis players have committed: two-time all-state quarterback Jason Gesser (Washington State) and slotback Craig Stutzmann (University of Hawaii).