It is too bad that he is out next season. Fui is my guess at who will be blocking the most. I don't know what happened to Manase. He is a good kid, just seems to be having some bad luck. He will pull it out. Hopefully return for his senior season in 2009. Go Cougars!

Dang, that is a heavy blow to the offense. I'm also confident that this just gives someone a chance to prove himself though. Good luck getting things together and finishing school.

Does anyone know how the other Tonga is doing? is he back on the team? mission?

iShowsToGo.com wrote:

It is too bad that he is out next season. Fui is my guess at who will be blocking the most. I don't know what happened to Manase. He is a good kid, just seems to be having some bad luck. He will pull it out. Hopefully return for his senior season in 2009. Go Cougars!

He may be a good kid, but being declared academically ineligible isn't a question of good or bad luck. I hope he is able to turn things around and get back on track.

ibleedcougarblue wrote:

NORTHERN COUGAR,

Bronco's system is made so that when somebody goes down there is another person that is well suited to step in and step up to the plate. I guess we just have to agree to disagree on this one. Who knows, I could be wrong, but I really am frustrated that he couldn't stay eligible. They have a lot of help with tutors and that so they should stay on top of things. Maybe its the coaching staffs problem for not getting him the help he needed before it was too late. I don't know. Frustrating to say the least to see it happen to the same dude in consecutive seasons. Go Cougs!

Hear me out and I think we don't have to agree to disagree. I am with you 100% about Bronco's system, but if I understand what you are saying, talent, experience, and leadership don't matter. That is what is false here. Yes, someone can step in and hopefully we are asking "Manase who" after a game or two. But can you say the same thing if Hall or Collie go down? If that is the case then it doesn't matter who plays because they will all be equally successful. Anyone could start and we wouldn't care who played. I am being a little facetious here but the idea is the same. Manase is a huge talent that will be hard to replace. Hopefully someone does but I think this one will hurt...a lot.

I tend to agree that Manase was a integral part of Unga's success last year. Nothing like having a freight train lead blocking for you. How good is Fui at lead blocking anyway? It seems like I heard he's slimmed down since last year.

Too bad about the academics. I almost failed out of BYU too. Of course, I was a freshman in pre-engineering. Maybe Manase needs to change his major like I did.

Honestly, this may be good news. Providing that Fui is healthy and wil;ling to block this year, it means we'll have back to back seasons with a sledgehammer type of back behind Harvey. Throw in Diluigi, Latu, and even Timo in the future and Tonga may well provide more dividends in two years rather than next. I don't know what kind of prescence Tonga is as a leader, but there is time for others to fill those shoes.
I hold no ill will towards the kid and there's no doubt that he needs to get his grades in order to play again. He could get paid to play fullback in the nfl and nobody is going to pay him after sitting out a year, so he'll be back.