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PLEASANT GROVE - When you meet Brandon Fanaika he gives the impression of a nice, soft-spoken young man - but there is another side to this senior from Pleasant Grove.
"The personality changes once I step onto the field," he says.
A look at his highlight reel confirms that. Play after play Fanaika can be seen pancaking any defender that gets in his path. He is a physical presence at 6-3 and 300 pounds and his combination of size, strength and athleticism make him one of the top lineman prospects in the West.
As good as Brandon is on the football field he has been ever better in the classroom. His 3.9 GPA has increased his value as a college prospect.
"It was one of the topics that my parents stressed to me growing up," he says. "They showed me what my future could be like with an education."
Fanaika currently holds nine scholarship offers from FBS schools. Stanford is recruiting him heavily as are Pac-12 schools Washington, UCLA, Arizona State and Utah. BYU recently offered and he is seriously considering Utah State where his brother Jason saw significant playing time as a true freshman. Brandon has plenty of choices and plans to take plenty of time making one of the most important decisions of his life.
"When the whole recruiting process started it kind of got hard not to think about it," he says. "I'm taking my time, you know, kind of wanting to focus more on my senior year."
Brandon has had tremendous examples to look up to in his own family. His cousin Paul Fanaika is an offensive lineman for the Seattle Seahawks and his older brother Jason played last season at Utah State before leaving to serve an LDS mission.
"My brother is my hero," he says. "Everything he does I'm right behind him doing it. He was like another parent to me watching me every step of the way to make sure I could succeed in anything."
Brandon played a year with Jason on the 2009 that went 8-3 and reached the 5A Quarterfinals. Brandon started on that team as a sophomore and hopes his experience and talent can help turn around the program after a disappointing season. The Vikings managed to make the playoffs in 2010 but struggled to a 5-7 record, their first losing season since 2005. Brandon knows he needs to be a leader if the Vikings are going to have success in a very difficult region that features Bingham and Lone Peak.
"I'm definitely trying to influence some of the players, especially the players coming up," he says. "It's definitely a huge role to play but I think I'm ready to step into those shoes."
*Email: jjensen@ksl.com*Twitter: @JJSportsBeat
