Inside The Huskies

UW Offers Compassionate Offensive Tackle from the High Desert

Paki Finau from Hesperia's Oak Hills High will help rather than hurt you when down and out.

Dan Raley

In this story:

On his highlight tape, Paki Finau moves players out of the way with ease, pancakes guys, annihilates them.

One play in particular stands out.

Finau absolutely cold-cocks an opponent with his body, dropping him like a heavyweight fighter with a round-house punch.

An offensive tackle for Oak Hills High School in Hesperia, California, this ferocious yet compassionate Finau next bends over, reaches out and offers the fallen player a helping hand.

Hurt them, then assist them.

On Saturday night, Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington staff demonstrated that it likes Finau's makeup by offering a football scholarship, his eighth overall. 

The 6-foot-5, 260-pound recruit just completed his sophomore year for a 9-2 Bulldogs team.

The Husky offer came following Finau's weekend appearance at the University of Redlands football camp held 44 miles south of his hometown, Hesperia, which is surrounded by the Mojave Desert in an area more commonly referred to as the High Desert. 

A 3-star recruit, Finau also holds offers from BYU, Fresno State, New Mexico State, UNLV, San Diego State, San Jose State and Washington State. 

Should the Huskies be able to sign this Southern California recruit and Class of 2024 member, they would have a pair of Finaus on the roster, one on each side of the line. 

Siaosi Finau is the other, a 6-foot-3, 266-pound defensive tackle from Renton, Washington.

If they're not related somehow, someway, introductions would be in order.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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