Texas crossed an ocean to add Liona Lefau to its strong 2023 linebacker class
Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian didn’t have to look outside of the state of Texas for three of UT’s recent additions to Jeff Choate’s linebacker room, but he had to cross an ocean to add the fourth.
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Kahuku (Hawaii) three-star Liona Lefau committed to Texas in late June in the wake of Arch Manning‘s decision, and put pen to paper on the north shore of Oahu on Wednesday to join fellow linebackers Anthony Hill, S’Maje Burrell, and Derion Gullette in Texas’ 2023 class.
“It’s a special day for me and a lot of my friends,” Lefau told KHON. It’s something that we worked hard for each and every day. We worked together a lot. A lot of the process was fun. Everything we did, we enjoyed. All of our trainings, our running with our coach, we had a lot of fun leading up to this special moment.”
The front door of Kahuku High School is 3745 miles away from Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium. Unless Lefau decided to attend the University of Hawaii, MaxPreps’ player of the year in the Aloha State was always going to have to make a significant trek to continue his football career.
He released a top eight in March composed of all mainland schools in BYU, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, USC, Utah, and Washington. He took official visits to Utah, Texas, and Oregon, then announced his commitment to Texas on June 25.
What put Texas over the top?
“A lot of it was the relationships,” Lefau said. “I have a good relationship with the linebackers coach. (Jake Langi) who was there, he was recruiting me hard. When we went up there, it just felt like home to me.”
Despite overtures from Oregon, Utah, Tennessee, and others, Lefau stuck with the Longhorns. In recent weeks, Sarkisian ventured to Hawaii to conduct an in-home visit with Lefau and his family. Sarkisian recounted the trip on national signing day, identifying it as one of the more memorable experiences of the cycle.
“Going to Hawaii was different, going to see Liona, just because it’s a long trip,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “It put things into perspective for me too, for him and his family. The fact that to get to Hawaii, you’re flying in through LA. Getting there, it’s nine hours in the air, not to mention if you have a layover, then you get there and drive to the north shore which is a little over another hour to get to Laie and to Kahuku High School.
“Then, you see the impact he has on his own community. He just had a youth camp with 350 kids over there that he put on with the community. It’s his camp, and something he wants to do year in and year out. We see the player, and we see him when he’s here, but then I got the chance to get into his community and see the impact that he has, the leader that he is, and what we’re getting.”
“Also, the idea that guy is flying that far, he wanted to come to Austin, Texas, he wanted to come to the University of Texas, he wanted to play for our coaches I think shows what we’re building here. That he was willing to fly that far to come here, even for that camp two summers ago, because this was a place he wanted to come.”
Sarkisian used Lefau as evidence of the reach of the Texas brand and Longhorn logo. That reach, combined with relationships, a position fit, and a team effort by the UT staff helped the Longhorns land On3’s No. 2 player in Hawaii. It also helped Texas land Tausili Akana on signing day, who was once a teammate of Lefau’s at Kahuku before he moved to Utah.
“It carries a lot of weight around the country,” Sarkisian said of the Texas brand. “It carried a lot of weight all the way on the north shore of Hawaii.”
Lefau had plenty of quality options for his college football career, with almost all of his finalists located somewhere between Austin and Kahuku. He chose Texas, and will take the next step of his career and arrive on the Forty Acres in a few weeks.
When Lefau makes it to Austin, what type of player will the Longhorns be getting?
“They’re getting someone who is just going to come up there and compete no matter what,” Lefau said. “I’m willing to do anything to help the team win, to help the team be successful. Whatever it takes, running down special teams, playing the middle, wherever they need me. Wherever I can contribute to team success, that’s where I’ll play.
