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Manoa Pikula is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker/fullback from Bingham High in South Jordan, Utah. He signed with BYU this past February and will be joining the program for the coming season before leaving for an LDS mission.
Does all of that sound familiar? For those who follow the BYU football program intently, it should.
In 2008, BYU signed a 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker/fullback from Bingham who planned to play a year before leaving on his mission. That player’s name was Iona Pritchard and he’s the exact player Pikula hopes to emulate.
The emulation of Pritchard began quite a while ago, as Pikula was strongly counseled to follow his lead in high school.
“My brother and him (Iona) are really good friends, and my brother told me to look up to him,” said Pikula. “So I looked up to Iona with how he plays and how he trains, his work ethic and everything like that. I just see how hard he trains, and I try to take that and I try to take that and put it into what I do every day.”
Pritchard went on to log time at fullback and at the inside linebacker position, where he broke the two-deep roster. It was quite a feat for not just an incoming freshman, but for any player, as playing both sides of the ball is highly unusual for any collegiate football player.
Pikula started three years at linebacker for powerhouse Bingham and was named a consensus first-team all-state performer his senior year. He tallied 85 tackles and five sacks his final season playing the middle linebacker spot on a defense that all but demolished every school it faced.
“Manoa has it all. He’s tough and physical, so he can take on blocks, but he’s also very agile, so he can cover well in space,” said George Pritchard, Bingham defensive coach and father of Iona Pritchard. “We played him all over the place this past year because he’s capable of a lot. He’s also a great character kid who has his priorities straight. For all of those reasons, I think he’ll see a lot of success at BYU.”
"I had an opportunity to coach in the U.S. Army All-American game and to also coach the National in which Manoa (Pikula) played in, and I can honestly say that he's one of the best linebacker/fullback recruits in the nation," adds Bingham head coach Dave Peck. "He has great size and speed and really likes to hit people. I think he's going to have a great career at BYU."
