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The Work Ethic and Football IQ of Puka Nacua
DoogCourics
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Some snippets from the Athletic. If you want more than a taste, you should do like George Michael and Wam!
“You want to fight for this kid up until the last day,” Orem High coach Jeremy Hill said of Nacua’s recruitment. “It’s worth it because of what you’re going to get back.”
The first time Ross Apo watched Nacua practice, he knew the kid was different. It was during the spring between Nacua’s freshman and sophomore seasons at Orem. He had been on the varsity as a 14-year-old freshman but was just scratching the surface of what he would become over the next three seasons. Practice ended that day, Apo recalled, with Nacua dropping a pass after running a dig route. He walked off the field in tears “because he felt like he let everybody down.”
Even then, his goal was to become one of the nation’s best receivers. So Apo and Nacua began working together. And even if Nacua hadn’t already stood out because of his natural talent, Apo knew his work ethic and football IQ would set him apart. “We have tempo workouts where he’ll run a 5-yard hitch and finish through the end zone, so he’s really running 110 yards, and he’ll catch it, run, I’ll jog down there, get the ball, run a slant, go another 110, and we’ll do that and then jump into drills, and he does not miss a beat,” Apo said. “He’s really impressive in the fact that his mind is conditioned, and his body is very conditioned.”
Hill took over as Orem’s coach in 2016 after five years as an assistant. Nacua was going into seventh grade when they first met; his father, Lionel, died unexpectedly in May 2012, and the family moved from Nevada to Utah the following summer. It didn’t take long for Nacua to fit in with his new classmates. Hill’s son, Hunter, an offensive lineman who recently signed to play for Utah State, became one of Nacua’s best friends, and Jeremy Hill said, “All the boys who had been together for the previous few years on that team, they got to be quick friends with him right away.”
It was obvious that Nacua was in his element on the football field.
“You could tell he was special,” Hill said. “You could tell he was different mentally, as well as physically. He picked up the offense in a day, picked up the defense in a day. He was sort of LeBron James-esque, where you could teach him 11 spots. He knew all 11.”
Nacua already had helped Orem win one state title when he ventured to Texas for what Apo recalls as a defining weekend. It was the day before The Opening Regionals in Euless, near Dallas, and Margin Hooks, another former BYU receiver and Apo’s mentor as a trainer, arranged a private workout with Nacua and several high-profile receiver and defensive back recruits he had trained in Texas.
Nacua hadn’t seen that level of competition before, and it showed. “In Utah, it’s different,” Apo said. “We don’t have those type of athletes that they have in Texas. He went down there, got pressed up and jammed." Said Hooks: “He said he’d never seen DBs that fast, but he adjusted quickly to his surroundings and adjusted to be able to compete. He saw, ‘Oh, these guys can play just like me.’ That’s when it kind of dawned on him.”
Hooks was impressed by the adjustments Nacua made overnight. “He became more assertive with everything he did,” he said. “There was meaning behind every move.” And once he returned home, Apo said, “he was a whole different person. He was hungry. He didn’t really show any mercy for anybody.”
Nacua visited Washington the weekend of Jan. 26 along with a group that included eventual UW signee Daniel Heimuli, a four-star linebacker from Menlo Park (Calif.) Menlo Atherton. (Just a week before, the two took home MVP honors at the Polynesian Bowl — Heimuli on defense, Nacua on offense.) Nacua’s visit allowed him to meet with new UW receivers coach Junior Adams, and though Hill doesn’t think Nacua’s decision hinged completely on Adams’ hire, he does know the two hit it off. “It definitely was a factor,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t say it was a game-changer by any means, but he definitely felt like he had a good relationship with him. I think he clicked a little better with him than with Coach (Matt) Lubick (Adams’ predecessor).”
Apo expects him to compete for playing time as a true freshman. “I see him going in and playing and at least giving those receivers there a run for their money,” Apo said, “because he’s going to go in and work hard and learn his plays. He’s so competitive. He’s going to give you a reason not to take him off the field.”
That’s why even on Sunday, as he tried to get to KSL in time for his scheduled announcement, Nacua’s recruitment still wasn’t over. Hill said Nacua reached out to the other coaches recruiting him to let them know he would be signing with Washington … and some of those coaches reached back out, hopeful for an 11th-hour, 59th-minute change of heart. (One coach Nacua didn’t contact? Petersen, whom Nacua wanted to surprise with his announcement, Hill said.)
“He had several coaches still calling him on the drive up, trying to talk him out of it,” Hill said. And when Nacua arrived at the TV station, “he was still a little rattled from those phone calls.”
“You want to fight for this kid up until the last day,” Orem High coach Jeremy Hill said of Nacua’s recruitment. “It’s worth it because of what you’re going to get back.”
The first time Ross Apo watched Nacua practice, he knew the kid was different. It was during the spring between Nacua’s freshman and sophomore seasons at Orem. He had been on the varsity as a 14-year-old freshman but was just scratching the surface of what he would become over the next three seasons. Practice ended that day, Apo recalled, with Nacua dropping a pass after running a dig route. He walked off the field in tears “because he felt like he let everybody down.”
Even then, his goal was to become one of the nation’s best receivers. So Apo and Nacua began working together. And even if Nacua hadn’t already stood out because of his natural talent, Apo knew his work ethic and football IQ would set him apart. “We have tempo workouts where he’ll run a 5-yard hitch and finish through the end zone, so he’s really running 110 yards, and he’ll catch it, run, I’ll jog down there, get the ball, run a slant, go another 110, and we’ll do that and then jump into drills, and he does not miss a beat,” Apo said. “He’s really impressive in the fact that his mind is conditioned, and his body is very conditioned.”
Hill took over as Orem’s coach in 2016 after five years as an assistant. Nacua was going into seventh grade when they first met; his father, Lionel, died unexpectedly in May 2012, and the family moved from Nevada to Utah the following summer. It didn’t take long for Nacua to fit in with his new classmates. Hill’s son, Hunter, an offensive lineman who recently signed to play for Utah State, became one of Nacua’s best friends, and Jeremy Hill said, “All the boys who had been together for the previous few years on that team, they got to be quick friends with him right away.”
It was obvious that Nacua was in his element on the football field.
“You could tell he was special,” Hill said. “You could tell he was different mentally, as well as physically. He picked up the offense in a day, picked up the defense in a day. He was sort of LeBron James-esque, where you could teach him 11 spots. He knew all 11.”
Nacua already had helped Orem win one state title when he ventured to Texas for what Apo recalls as a defining weekend. It was the day before The Opening Regionals in Euless, near Dallas, and Margin Hooks, another former BYU receiver and Apo’s mentor as a trainer, arranged a private workout with Nacua and several high-profile receiver and defensive back recruits he had trained in Texas.
Nacua hadn’t seen that level of competition before, and it showed. “In Utah, it’s different,” Apo said. “We don’t have those type of athletes that they have in Texas. He went down there, got pressed up and jammed." Said Hooks: “He said he’d never seen DBs that fast, but he adjusted quickly to his surroundings and adjusted to be able to compete. He saw, ‘Oh, these guys can play just like me.’ That’s when it kind of dawned on him.”
Hooks was impressed by the adjustments Nacua made overnight. “He became more assertive with everything he did,” he said. “There was meaning behind every move.” And once he returned home, Apo said, “he was a whole different person. He was hungry. He didn’t really show any mercy for anybody.”
Nacua visited Washington the weekend of Jan. 26 along with a group that included eventual UW signee Daniel Heimuli, a four-star linebacker from Menlo Park (Calif.) Menlo Atherton. (Just a week before, the two took home MVP honors at the Polynesian Bowl — Heimuli on defense, Nacua on offense.) Nacua’s visit allowed him to meet with new UW receivers coach Junior Adams, and though Hill doesn’t think Nacua’s decision hinged completely on Adams’ hire, he does know the two hit it off. “It definitely was a factor,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t say it was a game-changer by any means, but he definitely felt like he had a good relationship with him. I think he clicked a little better with him than with Coach (Matt) Lubick (Adams’ predecessor).”
Apo expects him to compete for playing time as a true freshman. “I see him going in and playing and at least giving those receivers there a run for their money,” Apo said, “because he’s going to go in and work hard and learn his plays. He’s so competitive. He’s going to give you a reason not to take him off the field.”
That’s why even on Sunday, as he tried to get to KSL in time for his scheduled announcement, Nacua’s recruitment still wasn’t over. Hill said Nacua reached out to the other coaches recruiting him to let them know he would be signing with Washington … and some of those coaches reached back out, hopeful for an 11th-hour, 59th-minute change of heart. (One coach Nacua didn’t contact? Petersen, whom Nacua wanted to surprise with his announcement, Hill said.)
“He had several coaches still calling him on the drive up, trying to talk him out of it,” Hill said. And when Nacua arrived at the TV station, “he was still a little rattled from those phone calls.”
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