Bound for hometown, Nevada commit Amini Amone rushing toward record books at East

SALT LAKE CITY — Amini Amone has played football since he was a toddler through his senior year at East High, where he has 196 rushing yards and three touchdowns for the Leopards (2-2) whose early-season schedule included top-ranked Skyridge and a 1-point loss to Orem on the final play of the game.

But he never imagined where the sport might take him next: home.

Amone is from the Reno, Nevada, area; and when the 5-foot-11, 190-pound tail back received a scholarship offer from Nevada from head coach Ken Wilson and running backs coach Vai Taua, he knew it was too much to pass up. By the end of his junior year, Amone was committed to the school in the hometown he and his family left close to 10 years ago.

It was a homecoming dream come true.

Amone was born in Sparks, Nevada, just outside of Reno, along with three of his siblings. But when he was around 3 years old, his family moved to Bountiful, and eventually Salt Lake's East bench, his father, Uluaki, explained.

"When I heard he had an offer from Reno, I figured he'd make a decision whether to go back home. And I had a feeling he would go back home," Uluaki Amone said, his voice cracking with emotion. "So me and my wife talked about it, we were praying that night, and we knew he was going to go back."

Before a collegiate career, though, for the Amones and the Leopards it's a matchup with national power IMG Academy (Florida) at 7 p.m. MDT Friday. And then East will continue Region 6 play, where it is 1-0 after last week's 21-14 win over Park City that included a touchdown from Amone to help put the triple in East's triple-option offense.

After all of that (and hopefully a run in the 5A state playoffs, he admits), Amone will head off to college in the very town where he and his siblings spent their youth. It's a homecoming that he never thought might be possible, even when he exploded on the scene as a junior, where he ran for 1,727 yards and 20 touchdowns for the Leopards.

In three full seasons of varsity football, Amini has averaged 92.9 yards per game for 3,624 yards and 47 touchdowns. Another year of 1,600 yards, which he's averaged each of the past two seasons, and Amone would finish his high school career with 5,200 yards — or the fifth-most in Utah high school football history, according to the Utah High School Activities Association record book.

It's a big reason why Amone has become one of the state's premier tailbacks since bursting on the scene as a freshman.

"That's when I started getting looked at, getting offers from different colleges," Amone said. "But when UNR came in, it was shocking. I knew it might be time to come back home."

As with most high school prospects, the chance at playing time also factored into his decision.

Amone, who committed April 25, fills a position of need for the Wolf Pack. Nevada is losing its two best running backs next season in Toa Taua and Devonte Lee, and Amone — a three-star recruit by 247Sports and No. 17-rated player in Utah who has also played safety — could see immediate playing time in the Class of 2023.

The program fit the need, the school fit the size he wanted to attend, and his hometown fit the bill, Amone said. The Mountain West outfit checked all the right boxes — even if it won't be considered one of college football's bluebloods by many analysts.

"My parents always asked me, especially my dad, if I wanted to go to any bigger schools," said Amone, who also had offers from Arizona State and Utah State, among others. "I was like, if I go there, I'm still going to get the same thing I would get from Nevada. That's when I knew it was time to come back home."

The chance to play football is also secondary for the Amone family, who moved to the states from Tonga before raising their children in Nevada and Utah. Football was always a means to a more important end: a shot at a college education.

"We love football, but the most important thing is education," Uluaki Amone said. "We want him to get a degree, to have a better life — and second, to excel at football."

Amone also has a bigger reason to his senior season: pulling East back after a 5-7 record as a junior that included a 3-3 mark in Region 6 play. That's a stone's throw from Amone's freshman season, when the Leopards went 10-4 en route to the 6A state semifinals.

Now he can do just that.

"I wanted to get the college recruiting out of the way, so I can focus on the main season," Amone said. "This is going to be another breakout season for me.

"Now I've just got to keep doing me — keep putting up numbers."

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